Responding to the government's decision to greenlight HS2, Green Party co-leader Jonathan Bartley said:
”Today’s decision by Boris Johnson proves once again he will choose vanity projects over common sense.
“The economic and environmental case for HS2 has slowly crumbled since it was announced a decade ago. From whatever angle you look at it HS2 is a colossal white elephant.
“It is time to put this project out of its misery and instead allocate these funds to facilitating a local and green transport revolution.
“We need projects that favour regional connectivity and help local people in their daily lives. We need to invest in new rail connections that remove bottlenecks, increase rail freight capacity, improve journey times and frequencies, enhance capacity in the South West, Midlands and North and join up currently unconnected urban areas.
“If the government is serious about its so-called ‘levelling up’ of the economy, these are the kind of projects it needs to prioritise. That’s the only way to create a fairer and greener UK economy that truly works for everyone.“
ENDS