Wasn’t it great to hear about Rishi Sunak’s promises of how to use the money ‘saved’ by not building HS2? At last, a politician being straight with us. And he was very specific, too, until today. Here comes a correction:
This is a variation on the lines of, “This is what I really meant to say. When I spoke specifically about what we would do, it was merely illustrative.” And it’s only projects that “could be funded”. Even by Sunak’s low standards, this is pretty grim stuff.
Not building HS2 is an absolute disaster for the UK in terms of the economy and the nation’s prestige. You’d think they’d be laughing at us in mainland Europe and of course they are. We are an international laughing stock. Instead of a state of the art rail system, Sunak says he will spend the money on fixing the pot holes that have got far worse under 13 years of Conservative government, although not really, as the suggestions are merely illustrative.
My old city, Bristol, was supposed to be getting £100 million to build new transport infrastructure, but Sunak’s bag carriers deleted that proposal as soon as they made it. In any event, £100 million is a drop in the ocean for Bristol. It might pay for a few more buses and bus lanes, but not a light rail transit system or the ludicrous underground system Mayor Marvin Rees was supporting.
This, I fear, is Britain today. A ‘can’t do’ country, led by a prime minister who can’t even make a policy announcement without later contradicting it. Hop across the North Sea and English Channel and you are soon in a world of efficient, affordable public transport, leaving behind the inefficient, unaffordable options we have at home.
Even if you don’t agree with HS2, which could be because you don’t understand it, you have to say it would at least said to the British people we can still do big projects for the long term. Under Sunak, we can’t even do small projects for the short term, because they are merely illustrative. What an absolute state we are in. At least we have world class pot holes.
