HS2

Tories have wasted eye-watering £100 billion of taxpayer cash in four years on ‘crony contracts’ and ‘outrageous outgoings’

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https://leftfootforward.org/2023/11/tories-have-wasted-eye-watering-100-billion-of-taxpayer-cash-in-four-years-on-crony-contracts-and-outrageous-outgoings/

One of the many occasions climate change denier and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak uses a private jet.
One of the many occasions climate change denier and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak uses a private jet.

The shocking waste of money all occurred when Rishi Sunak was either Prime Minister or Chancellor and includes the £140 million on the failed Rwanda scheme and £2.3bn on the scrapped parts of HS2.

Ever keen to portray themselves as the party of sound finances, the Tories have squandered £100 billion of taxpayers’ cash in four years on ‘crony contracts’ and ‘duff deals’, a new report has found.

The shocking waste of money all occurred when Rishi Sunak was either Prime Minister or Chancellor and includes the £140 million on the failed Rwanda scheme and £2.3bn on the scrapped parts of HS2.

The report was compiled by campaign group such as Best for Britain, looking at figures since 2019, which found that just under £15 billion vanished on unused or unusable PPE, storing it and ending contracts – and up to £10,000 of furlough cash went to Koru Kids, a childcare firm in which the PM’s wife, Akshata Murty, has shares.

Naomi Smith, CEO of Best for Britain, said: “The notion that the Tories are safe with money has been blown out of the water.

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https://leftfootforward.org/2023/11/tories-have-wasted-eye-watering-100-billion-of-taxpayer-cash-in-four-years-on-crony-contracts-and-outrageous-outgoings/

Continue ReadingTories have wasted eye-watering £100 billion of taxpayer cash in four years on ‘crony contracts’ and ‘outrageous outgoings’

Halt new roads and developments adding to emissions, advisers to tell UK government

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jun/23/halt-new-roads-and-developments-adding-to-emissions-advisers-to-tell-uk-government

The government should halt all new roads unless there are exceptional circumstances, the government’s climate advisers are likely to say next week.

On Wednesday the Committee on Climate Change will publish its latest report on the UK’s progress in dealing with the climate crisis. Speaking at Glastonbury on Friday, the climate change committee chair, Lord Deben, said new roads inevitably increased traffic and emissions.

The report is likely to advise that any new developments that make climate breakdown worse should be banned.

If the recommendation is followed through, it would sound the death knell for the government’s road-building programme – and had it been adopted earlier, it would have meant the high-speed HS2 rail line would never have been approved. 

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https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/jun/23/halt-new-roads-and-developments-adding-to-emissions-advisers-to-tell-uk-government

Continue ReadingHalt new roads and developments adding to emissions, advisers to tell UK government

UK politics news

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A small selection of recent UK politics news articles

Continue ReadingUK politics news

Parliament to discuss HS2

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The UK parliament is set to discuss the proposed High Speed 2 rail link today. Larry Elliott has an article in the Guardian.

The economic case for the high-speed railway does not add up. Far better to put a fraction of its £40bn-plus cost into freight lines

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The economics of HS2 suck.

Traditionally, public money is allocated using cost-benefit analysis. Whitehall estimates the costs of a project and tries to put a monetary value on the benefits. On this basis, HS2 doesn’t wash its face. The cost is high and the benefits, in many cases, are spurious.

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There is a need for the UK economy to be less dominated by London but HS2, in its current form at least, looks like an expensive way of making regional imbalances worse not better.

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So, the likely upshot of HS2 is that London will benefit most, the big regional hubs such as Birmingham and Leeds will get some benefit, but cities bypassed by the line will lose out.

It’s worth noting, also, that the money saved from scrapping HS2 would find its way into the economy one way or another: handing each adult a cheque for £1,000 would almost certainly provide a bigger boost to economic activity in, say, Rochdale than a new high-speed railway that ends in Manchester.

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HS2 is a gravy train for the construction sector, lawyers, transport consultants, bureaucrats and the rich people who will be able to afford it. It will be the misery line for just about everybody else.

 

Continue ReadingParliament to discuss HS2