George Osborne Gives Backing To HS2

George Osborne has given his backing to the HS2 high-speed rail project despite opposition from some business leaders. The Chancellor told the Institute of Directors (IoD) annual convention that governments of all colours have made the mistake in the past 50 years of failing to invest heavily in infrastructure. And he admitted it would have been “easy” for the Government to drop the scheme when it came to power faced with such difficult spending choices, but said HS2 is not something that should be discarded. “Our rail system is already full and we know that it will get worse without HS2. Last week a report by KPMG showed that HS2 will provide a boost to the economy of £15 billion a year,” he said. Mr Osborne pledged that HS2 will not come at the expense of other transport investment, adding: “Projects like these take decades to build, you can’t go back and fix the mistakes you have made if you don’t invest when you wished you had. I passionately believe if we don’t invest now we will regret it.” HS2 has been referred to as a “grand folly” by the IoD, which has called on the Government to scrap the project.

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