Gareth Rose - Sunday Times - 7th February 2010
The prospects of a high-speed rail link between London and Scotland have been dealt a blow after the Conservatives admitted they had budgeted for the route to extend only as far as Leeds.
While work is due to begin on a 250mph line between the capital and Yorkshire by 2015, David Cameron has no funding or timetable in place for the line to Glasgow and Edinburgh. Labour has also refused to commit to a Scottish link.
Pressure on public spending means the Scottish link is only an “aspiration”, according to David Mundell, the shadow Scottish secretary, who said no firm plans would be published within the lifetime of a first Conservative government.
A report submitted to the government last December included detailed plans for a line from London to Birmingham followed by two branches, one to Manchester, Glasgow and Edinburgh and the other to Sheffield, Leeds and Newcastle upon Tyne.
Lord Adonis has yet to give his response to the proposals submitted by High Speed Two (HS2), the firm set up by the government to deliver the project.
Critics now fear the Scottish end of the route, which would cut journey times between London and Glasgow to 2hr 42mins, might never materialise.
Mundell said that restrictions on public spending would mean a Conservative government would only have enough funding in place for the network to reach Leeds.
“We’re going to be in a period where difficult decisions are going to have to be taken.There’s going to be a lot less money to go around. It’s about identifying priorities, everything can’t be a priority,” he said.
“We have a funded plan for getting the high speed rail link off the ground and heading towards Leeds.
“People will say that it is not coming to Scotland straight away but the first thing is to get it started and fully funded.
“It should eventually go through Newcastle and Edinburgh and on to Glasgow.”
Mundell said Theresa Villiers, the UK shadow transport secretary, had held talks with John Swinney, the finance minister and Stewart Stevenson, the transport minister. “It is a project that we want to work together on, that’s the way to achieve it for Scotland,” added Mundell.
Last week, in an interview with the industry newspaper Railnews, Villiers said: “We’ve prepared a detailed model and business case for a high-speed line from London . . . and then going north to Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds. A route has not yet been decided, but those are the places which will be served first.”
Under plans drafted by the Conservatives, work on the first stage of the network would begin in the next five years and take about a decade to complete at a cost of £20 billion.
About three-quarters of the cost would be publicly funded. The total cost of the network, including the connection to Scotland, is estimated at about £60 billion.
Last year Adonis said construction work would not begin until 2017 at the earliest.
A spokesman for the UK Department for Transport, said: “The [HS2] report is being considered by the secretary of state and he will be producing a white paper in March.”
Mike Weir MP, the SNP’s business and enterprise spokesman, said he was disappointed at the news about the Scottish end of the link: “This revelation will shunt the Tories’ already faltering campaign in Scotland into the buffers,” he said.
“Yet again, they have shown their total lack of commitment to Scotland and the opportunities to our economy and environment offered by high-speed rail links.
“David Mundell clearly has no authority in the Tory shadow cabinet, otherwise why would he accept such second- class treatment for Scotland?”
A Scottish government spokesman added: “It is vital that Scotland is not left behind, so any high-speed rail network must link Scotland to London.”
John Thurso, the Liberal Democrat MP who proposed the high-speed link when he was the party’s transport spokesman, believes it would be “ridiculous” for the route to stop south of the border.
“We are already 20 years behind the rest of Europe,” said the member for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross.
“We need a proper plan which connects the nation’s capitals, at the very minimum, and should have a blueprint for high-speed rail for the whole of the UK.”
The Scottish Chambers of Commerce have claimed that improved rails links are crucial to the country’s economic future.
“A high-speed rail network would help bring the British transport system into the 21st century and would deliver tangible economic benefits to Scotland,” said a spokeswoman.
Iain Coucher, Network Rail’s chief executive, has urged both the main UK parties to commit to a fast Scotland-to-London service.
“If a Labour or Conservative government does not start planning for a new route imminently, the extra demand will be met by cars,” he said.
“If governments of whatever colour are committed to providing an improved environment, they need to make this investment.”
Mundell will give an insight into what Scotland could expect from a Tory government when he delivers a Sunday Times lecture at his party’s conference in Perth on Friday.
See also:
Race to spend £27bn on Scotland to England rail link 'without knowing facts'
New high-speed rail plan unveiled
New £85m railway line runs into trouble a year after completion
Journey to Highlands could cost you Britain's first £1000 rail fare
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