Counterpoint: To read the case for going ahead with HS2, click here In August Transport Secretary Grant Shapps launched an independent review into HS2 with the aim of aiding the Government to make a “go, no-go” decision by December. The review is supposed to consider HS2’s “affordability, deliverability, benefits, scope and phasing”. The basic idea […]
Counterpoint: To read the case for scrapping HS2, click here The problems that HS2 solves are far-reaching and complex and it is for this reason that many politicians and commentators have failed to make the case for the project. The West Midlands has seen a 121% increase in rail use in the last decade and […]
Counterpoint: To read the case against banning private jets, click here Last week, 11,000 scientists warned that the planet is facing a climate emergency, and approximately 2000 private jets took off from British airports. The scientists said that without deep, urgent and lasting change we are on course for “untold human suffering” via irreversible impacts […]
Counterpoint: To read the case for banning private jets, click here According to the International Air Transport Association, aviation accounts for roughly 2% of global carbon emissions and private planes are a tiny fraction of that number. Yet Labour are apparently considering banning private jets, something advocated by Leo Murray on this site recently. Before […]
Car drivers often have a hard time of it. They have to pay numerous taxes when they buy their car, have it insured and fill it up with fuel. Nor for most people in the UK is it a luxury, but a necessity to get to and from work. However, cars do impose heavy costs […]
This week Extinction Rebellion protesters have returned to the streets of London demanding faster action to tackle rising greenhouse gas emissions. More than 600 people have been arrested for blockading streets around Whitehall, with the figure likely to increase. One of the more viral bits of social media associated with their presence in Westminster was […]
So now we know for sure. Thanks to Grant Shapps, Westminster’s biggest open secret is finally out there. HS2 is actually going to cost considerably more than we were told four years ago. For us at the TaxPayers’ Alliance, this is a bittersweet moment. It’s bitter because the bill for HS2 will now be even […]
Leftwing thinktank IPPR North has published a short paper on transport investment in different parts of the UK. To anyone from or living in the north, a quick glance at its executive summary makes for grim but not particularly surprising reading. Looking at historic data, IPPR North argue that over the past decade average annual […]
While the Conservative leadership race dominates the news in the UK, the European Union is continuing to regulate as usual. At a recent European Council, the Netherlands proposed an EU departure tax, which would add a levy of €7 (£6.25) to every flight departing from an airport inside of a member state. The tax has […]
When France built its high-speed rail network, it revolutionised the way we looked at train travel. What takes 4-5 hours by long-distance bus from Brussels to Paris can now be completed in just over an hour with a Thalys train. Dumping slow regional trains for fast and futuristic new models has brought more comfort and […]
The House of Lords’ Economic Affairs Committee has released a report on HS2. It is a damning indictment of the whole sorry scheme, one which will come as no surprise to anybody who has been following the debacle over the past few years. The report, in what must be one of the greatest examples of […]
Jeremy Corbyn is out on the campaign trail for the upcoming local elections and has today unveiled plans to reverse cuts to 3,000 local bus services by raising £1.3bn from Vehicle Excise Duty. The Labour Party argue the bus routes are a lifeline for communities and have suffered as a result of Conservative Party austerity. […]
The great train debate is not just a minor contretemps between the small-state supporters and scorners. It is one that has implications for millions of people everyday. You may have read other authors on this site extol the virtues of privatisation of long-distance rail and evidence this by demonstrating how it has improved the train […]
Last night’s eagerly awaited speech by the Chairman of the Government’s much hyped rail review, former British Airways CEO, Keith Williams, raised real concern amongst those of us holding out for real structural change on the railways. In 3200 words there wasn’t one reference to the need to deliver more on-track train competition so to […]
Despite giddy excitement in Westminster regarding the formation of The Independent Group, the most sobering news of the week was the announcement that Honda would be closing its Swindon factory in 2021, taking 7000 jobs with it. The news leaked out before Honda had announced the reasons for the closure. Inevitably, many jumped to conclusions […]
When the UK government cancelled its plans to electrify train lines across Wales, the Midlands and the north of England, and cut back on the Great Western rail network electrification, it brought a premature end to a rail investment programme once touted as the biggest the country had seen since the Victorian era. But now […]
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