Greens call for cancellation of HS2 in the wake of the Carillion collapse

The Green Party has called on the Government to cancel HS2 after the collapse of Carillion, the company building the high speed rail link.

Jonathan Bartley, Green Party co-leader, also urged the Government to reverse privatisation, bring contracts back in house and launch a full-scale inquiry into the decisions made about the company, and the wider “privatisation experiment”.

Bartley said:

The collapse of Carillion should be the final nail in HS2’s coffin. Cancelling this vanity project would save tens of billions of pounds, and stop the environmental vandalism which would see miles of countryside and ancient woodland covered in concrete. Instead, Britain's rail network has the opportunity to rise like a phoenix from Carillion’s flames. Thousands of jobs could be created by investing instead in the upgrades local rail networks desperately need.

Carillion's demise should be seen as an opportunity to reverse privatisation, and protect jobs and pensions by bringing contracts back in house. It should also be the trigger for a full-scale inquiry, not just into the reckless decisions this Government has made over Carillion but also the whole privatisation experiment, which has been tried and found consistently wanting.