Buckingham MP tells Rishi Sunak to scrap whole of HS2

The MP said scrapping HS2 completely would be more beneficial than completing the project

A Conservative MP has urged the prime minister to cancel HS2 altogether after the rail line was scrapped between the West Midlands and Manchester.

Buckingham MP Greg Smith said returning the land to agricultural use would be a better use of funding.

The member of the transport select committee suggested land that cannot be returned to its original use could be used for housing, cycle ways or roads.

He said the "hideous project" should never "have seen the light of day".

"It is hideous what it is doing to Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Northamptonshire and Warwickshire in terms of destroying ancient woodland and nature," he added.

It was hoped HS2 would cut journey times, create more space on the rail network and boost jobs outside London.

Work on the first phase of the high-speed line, connecting Birmingham and London Euston, began in September 2020.

Speaking at today's Conservative party conference, Rishi Sunak announced he had scrapped "the rest of the HS2 project".

Buckingham MP Greg Smith has previously said HS2 has caused "abject human misery" in his constituency

He said "every single penny" saved from HS2, which he says is £36bn, would instead be invested in hundreds of new transport projects in the North and the Midlands, and across the country.

Mr Smith said he had been shown data by Labour peer Tony Berkeley which said scrapping the line, including the work already started, could mean the project costs £8bn rather than latest estimates of £71bn.

"Is it better to lose the eight billion now or carry on and still build a railway that nobody's going to really use, because nobody really wants to go from West London to not-central Birmingham," he said.

The long-time critic of HS2 said the cancelation of the project has left him feeling "a little bit vindicated that my arguments are now coming to the fore".