It never made it to Manchester and the North of England and now HS2 faces further embarrassment with the Transport Secretary to announce a further two year delay to the project
The line which is planned to run from London to just north of Birmingham is set to be delayed to 2035 as the Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander presents the findings of an interim report by Mark Wild, chief executive of HS2 Ltd, the company responsible for the delivery of the project later this afternoon.
The report will highlight how costs rose £37 billion between 2012, when the line was approved by the Coalition government, and the general election last year and how taxpayers may have been defrauded by subcontractors who have inflated costs of the project
According to the Daily Telegraph Alexander will say she has drawn a “line in the sand” on the project, which has been a “litany of failure”, after billions were wasted on “constant scope changes, ineffective contracts and bad management”.
She will say; “There are allegations that parts of the supply chain have been defrauding taxpayers, and I have been clear that these need to be investigated rapidly and rigorously.”
“If fraud is found, then the consequences will be felt by all involved.”
