The report – launched yesterday by former Cabinet Minister David Davis – claims that cancelling the planned railway from London to Birmingham and on to Manchester and Leeds would free up at least £50Bn. This could be better spent on improving transport links up and down the country, it adds.

“We have long argued that HS2 is a waste of taxpayers’ money and this report makes that fact even clearer,” said TaxPayers’ Alliance chief executive John O’Connell. “Given the number of excellent alternatives, it’s now time to scrap this white elephant.”

Among 28 projects identified in the report are extending Crossrail to Stansted airport and Cambridge, dualling the A1 from Durham to Edinburgh, a ‘supertram’ network for Leeds and a programme of building cycle paths alongside strategic roads.

Also on the list are several railway electrification, reopening and upgrade schemes as well as the Lower Thames Crossing and a new east-west high speed trans-Pennine railway in the North of England. It is claimed that all 28 projects could be delivered for a total of £45.1Bn.

David Davis said: “Together, the projects would bridge the divide between north and south, boost economic growth, improve capacity in our transport networks and provide a better service to passengers. What’s more, all proposals combined could be delivered quicker and cheaper than HS2.”

Responding to the report, a spokesman for the Department for Transport said it does not recognise the cost figures asserted by the report. “The report presents a false and inferior choice of investing in either HS2 or other transport across the country – we are delivering both,” the spokesman added.

“HS2 will deliver £92Bn in benefits, providing the increased capacity and improved connections our national rail network desperately needs. On top of this, the full benefits of Northern Powerhouse Rail can only be realised off the back of HS2 – we are clear the north needs both, not either / or.”

Greengauge 21 director Jim Steer told TP Weekly News: “Many of the projects selected in the report are genuinely good propositions – if lacking realistic costings and delivery timescales – but none of them (even in combination) can be seen as an alternative to HS2. Instead they should be considered alongside HS2 as part of a wider national infrastructure strategy.”

The report comes following comments on High Speed 2 made by head of the National Audit Office Sir Amyas Morse to BBC Radio 4’s Westminster Hour on Sunday.
Asked about the project, he told the programme: “Pretty soon now we will have sunk so much in buying land, building track and so on that it would be very difficult not to at least go to Birmingham.

“I think for somebody to pull HS2 now, we would have to be in a lot of economic trouble.”

(Image: Capita)