Bucks MPs attack HS2 as Sunak cancels northern leg of rail link

Buckinghamshire’s MPs have criticised HS2 after Rishi Sunak scrapped the northern leg of the high-speed rail link.

The Prime Minister used his speech at the Conservative party conference on Wednesday to reveal he is axing the Birmingham-Manchester section of the £71bn rail project due to soaring costs.

Three Tory MPs in Buckinghamshire backed Mr Sunak’s announcement but criticised HS2’s impact on local residents.

The MP for Aylesbury Rob Butler said the cancellation of the rest of HS2 was a “bittersweet” moment for the county.

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “I’ve opposed HS2 for years, stating from the very beginning of my election campaign that we didn’t need this railway.

“It made no sense economically and it made no sense environmentally. It’s right that at last this project has been scrapped, but it is a bittersweet moment here in Bucks because, for us, the damage has already been done.

“The construction of the line between London and Birmingham is unfortunately still going ahead, causing massive disruption to our day-to-day lives, and wreaking destruction across our landscape.

“Yet there’s absolutely no benefit for local residents; there never has been, there never will be.”

The MP for Buckingham Greg Smith told the LDRS: “Fantastic progress that another part of HS2 has been scrapped.

“This is a project that no one needs and we can’t afford. I will continue my fight to get the whole lot scrapped.”

The MP for Beaconsfield Joy Morrissey told the LDRS: “I have long stated my opposition to HS2 being built through Buckinghamshire. I will continue to work hard to mitigate the impact it is having on local residents.”

In his speech, Mr Sunak promised that the £36bn saved by scrapping the rest of HS2 would be reinvested in “hundreds” of other projects.

These included building the Midlands rail hub, upgrading the A1, A2, A5 and M6, and resurfacing roads across the country.

Mr Butler said the funds saved by cancelling the northern stretch of HS2 should be used to improve transport in his constituency.

He said: “I’ll be calling on the Government to devote some of the savings from scrapping Phase 2 of HS2 into improving transport here in the Aylesbury area.

“Because it’s fundamentally wrong for local people to be forced to continue to suffer for a project they knew was a white elephant all along.”

The Liberal Democrat MP for Chesham and Amersham Sarah Green said in a statement that cancelling the rest of HS2 “adds insult to injury” for people in her constituency.

She added: “Axing Phase 2 of the project undermines the entire economic case for HS2 and leaves us with an outcome nobody wants.

“My constituents’ lives have been blighted by this ill-thought-out scheme for years now. I have assisted people who have lost their homes, their businesses, lived with the noise and disruption, and seen precious environments and habitats destroyed. And now we find it was all for nothing.

“It has been clear to all of us in Bucks for years that this project was spiralling out of control. I call on the Government to now do the sensible thing and scrap this vanity project once and for all.”