Lord Digby Jones: HS2 must be built at all costs
HS2 must be built at all costs to increase capacity on the country's transport networks, a former director general of the CBI has said.
Lord Digby Jones said he was not concerned about the project's budget, insisting that its phase two route through Staffordshire to the north west was vital for the region to progress.
The future of high speed rail has come under close scrutiny in recent months, with questions raised over whether it can be built to its £56bn budget, and several Tory leadership candidates indicating they may scrap it.
But former Trade Minister Lord Jones said that although he opposed to the HS2 route – which he claims "rapes" some of the country's most beautiful countryside – he was in favour of the concept.
"We have to get the message across that the capacity of the rail service is not sufficient for the population," he told the audience at the Richardson's Black Country business event at The Hawthorns.
Critics of HS2 have warned that the total cost for the project could surge past £100bn, while a recent report from a Lords committee warned that its northern phase may never be built due to spiralling costs.
But Lord Jones said: "In 100 years time no one will remember what it cost."
Describing financial concerns as "a short term obsession" that could cloud the big picture, he said: "We need capacity. Seventy flights a day leave Heathrow that do not cross salt water. Those slots should be going to Beijing, to Delhi and New York to bring in investment.
"We need a solution to get business and leisure travel out of London and up to Scotland and Manchester and Newcastle. To do that you need more railways.
"What we have to do is maintain the pressure on Westminster."
Also speaking at the event, West Midlands Mayor Andy Street said it must be made "politically impossible" for Conservative leadership candidates to scrap HS2.
He described criticising HS2 as "an easy hit in the pantomime of Westminster", but warned that ditching the project would be "political suicide" for the next Tory leader.
