She said: “Anything less, including downgrading HS2 north of Birmingham, would seriously damage this government’s claim to be levelling up the north and Midlands.”The Oakervee review is set to recommend that ministers push ahead with HS2. Two such MPs said they would want local services prioritised over HS2 if the government decides to choose between them. Johnson has said he would think very carefully about abandoning such a major infrastructure project, but two key advisers – Dominic Cummings and Andrew Gilligan – have been arguing against its spiralling costs. Penny Gaines, the chair of Stop HS2, said: “There are massive problems with and within HS2 Ltd and even the Oakervee review, led by a former chair of HS2 Ltd, can’t brush them all under the carpet. He tweeted that it was “a total shambles that this HS2 review has not yet been published … When ministers describe the review report as a ‘draft’, they are misleading the public.”The National Audit Office is expected to publish its own report on HS2 by the end of January.

Source: The Guardian January 20, 2020 08:30 UTC