Keir Starmer pushing for HS2 to be scrapped in 2015
Labour outrage over Government plans to scrap the Manchester leg of HS2 was undermined today after masses of evidence emerged proving Sir Keir Starmer wanted the infrastructure project to be junked altogether.
Manchester mayor Andy Burnham has fumed that proposals to scrap the northern branch of the line, to keep costs down amid continually rising inflation, proves the government is treating northerners like “second-class citizens”.
Mr Burnham asked: “Why are we always treated as second-class citizens when it comes to transport?”
He added the move seems to be the “desperate act of a dying government”.
He was joined by Sadiq Khan, who today says that scrapping the Manchester branch, combined with proposals to stop the route at Old Oak Common – six miles away from Euston – would be a “colossal waste of public money”.
READ MORE: Shapps: ‘Costs have accelerated… we’d be crazy not to reassess HS2’
In a letter to Rishi Sunak, the London mayor said: “Terminating the service at Old Oak Common would be a short-sighted decision which will have long-term implications, significantly downgrading the value of HS2.”
However, Labour’s fury at the leaked Government decision this weekend was swiftly undermined after it emerged that Sir Keir had not only spent years supporting proposals to end the HS2 London end at Old Oak Common, but called for the project to be abandoned in its entirety.
Speaking in the Commons in 2015 after his election win in Holborn and St Pancras, Sir Keir explicitly said he opposes HS2 “on cost and on merit: it will not achieve its stated objectives”.
He said: “We have had plans, amended plans and further amended plans for Euston, but the only sensible plan is to abandon the project altogether.”
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In another debate, Sir Keir pledged to carry on supporting his constituents in opposing HS2’s construction for the “duration” of the “many, many years” it will take to build.
During his 2015 election campaign, the now-Labour leader told the Camden New Journal: “I have consistently indicated that I am against HS2 because the case for HS2 is not made out and, in any event, a 21st-century high-speed railway should not be brought into a densely populated part of North London causing great destruction and pollution.
“I intend to fight tirelessly for local residents and traders on this issue and have already made it a top priority and started work with a number of the groups in Holborn and St Pancras opposed to HS2.
“I firmly believe that the best chance of protecting residents and traders in Holborn and St Pancras from the destruction of HS2 is if I can persuade the incoming Government, particularly if it is Labour led, either that HS2 should not proceed at all or that Old Oak Common should be the London terminus.”
In August, Labour claimed Sir Keir had only ever “preferred a different route for HS2”, however, the quotes demonstrate his opposition went much further than merely opposing disruption at Euston.
Shortly after his election to the Commons, Sir Keir was pictured handing a petition against HS2 into Parliament with his neighbouring MP Tulip Siddiq.
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