Chair of PAC on HS1

This from the Public Accounts Committee...

NATIONAL AUDIT OFFICE: The completion and sale of High Speed 1

A statement from The Rt Hon Margaret Hodge MP, Chair of the Committee of Public Accounts:

I am yet to be convinced that HS1 will prove to be value for money. Yet again we hear that value for money will depend on uncertain benefits which have not been quantified. We will want the department to do all it can to realise the benefits and turn this sorry story round.

Compared to the staggering mismanagement of the West Coast Mainline upgrade, the department did relatively well with the construction of HS1. But that is damning with very faint praise indeed. It’s a sad state of affairs when it comes as no surprise that HS1 was based on dodgy assumptions and bad planning.

Don't be so coy Margaret, tell us what you really think!