Mid Cheshire action group against #HS2 £107 billion Gravy Train for vested interests. CO2 +ve for 120 years Undeniably environmentally harmful according to DfT

Joined October 2013
MCheshireAgainstHS2 retweeted
This, from DfT annual report, shows capital spending on roads, rail and HS2. Spending on HS2 is, year after year, higher than on the whole of the rest of the rail network, and nearly twice total spending on national highways. Just think what could have been done instead.
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MCheshireAgainstHS2 retweeted
Señor Benso@belebensoAug 24
Why does #HS2 cost £100 bn? Becuz the tree planting, obvs #HS2CostsMysterySolved xitter.cf/tomhfh/status/20916108…
Some more reasons why HS2 is cripplingly expensive: It's not just a railway, it's also a 140 mile long nature reserve. 7 million trees and shrubs. Net biodiversity gains. Rare fauna planting. Chalk hill reshaping. Wetland creation. Cycle paths and bridleways. Reptile habitats. Public viewing points. River realignment with new bends, pools, and riffles. "Alongside the construction of Britain's new high speed railway, HS2 is delivering one of the largest environmental programmes ever undertaken in the UK". You'd think that a new railway would be environmentally beneficial enough. But no. Because this is a government project it can't just be a railway. It has to be a nature reserve too, and a jobs creator, plus a view protector, forest creator, and the most expensive bat protection project in the world. Thanks to all these expensive boondoggles, the railway itself has been cut and cut and cut, and no longer goes to Leeds or Manchester - it's been slashed from 330 miles to 140. It would obviously be better for the environment to have forgone the nature slop and just built the sodding railway in full, on time, and within budget. The Victorians weren't magically better at building than we seemingly are today. When private companies build a railway they care about costs, profit, and efficiency. When a government builds a railway they care about creating a camel to appeal to all people. It can't just be a railway. It has to be so much more. And that's when we see costs spiral to destruction.
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MCheshireAgainstHS2 retweeted
Andy Burnham wants to throw taxpayers' money around like confetti. His latest proposal is to extend the failed HS2 project to Manchester. A realistic HS2-spec Birmingham–Manchester extension would be a £80bn–£90bn project with Manchester station/tunnel complexity, weak cost control, and further delay. Let's remember that by May 2026 the government’s reset estimate for Phase 1 had become £87.7bn–£102.7bn, excluding future inflation, with Old Oak Common–Birmingham not opening until May 2036–October 2039 and the Euston/Handsacre full scope not until 2040–2043 Burnham's HS2 proposal confirms either that he is not a serious politician or that he thinks people are idiots or both.
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MCheshireAgainstHS2 retweeted
Great work @AJPendleton and team @NEF. I was a fan of #HS2 but have been converted by strength of the evidence in report. If rebalancing is an imperative, why are we spending billions on a scheme where 40% of the benefits go to London. Time for a rethink!
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MCheshireAgainstHS2 retweeted
If you are wondering if #HS2 is worth £106bn have a look at this @NEF report. Spoiler alert... it really isn’t! 40% of the benefits go to the London but only 10% to York & Humber & 12% to the Midlands. Time to scrap the scheme and devolve £100 bn to local areas to invest.
The cost of HS2 could rise to £106bn or more, the original max budget for the project was £56bn🤯 NEF report looked at alternatives and sets out how the investment could be better used to improve journeys and ease overcrowding 🚄 bit.ly/2TGmWaU
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MCheshireAgainstHS2 retweeted
Sharron Davies HoL MBE
@sharrond62Jul 8
Manchester suffers steepest fall in living standards in England. The scrutiny will now come. telegraph.co.uk/gift/2531a98…
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MCheshireAgainstHS2 retweeted
Watch this for everything you need to know about Burnham and his economics…..it’s beyond embarrassing! Honestly if this is the scale of Westminster capabilities we are expected to accept Im out! It’s like asking 4 year olds to run government!
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MCheshireAgainstHS2 retweeted
I have mentioned the Ajax fighting vehicle fiasco many times — on Twitter, on my TV show and in a direct confrontation with the defence secretary. As for HS2 it’s clear it should never have been started and was an all-too predictable fiasco. But it might be too late to pull stumps. Open to persuasion either way.
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MCheshireAgainstHS2 retweeted
In a way, the elected mayor of Greater Manchester is a pretty dishonest form of devolution. In 2012 the Cameron govt imposed a referendum on the city of Manchester - the biggest of the 10 council areas in Gtr Manchester - over having an elected mayor. People voted 54% against.
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MCheshireAgainstHS2 retweeted
Why Will The Media Not Ask Andy Burnham About Operation Hexagon? There is an operation Greater Manchester Police will not name. The press will not name it either. It has a name. Operation Hexagon. A police operation was built to hunt the people who exposed the rape of children in Oldham. The man who held authority over it is walking towards Downing Street. They Built An Operation To Hunt The Whistleblowers Operation Hexagon was a joint enterprise between Greater Manchester Police, Oldham Council and Labour Party politicians. The grooming gangs were never its target. Neither were the men who shielded them. The machinery was aimed at the whistleblowers, and at the ordinary people who dared to ask how children came to be raped in Oldham. Read that back slowly. A police force and a political party, working in concert, turned on the citizens who demanded accountability. The abusers were left untouched. The people exposing them were placed under the lens. I can speak to Hexagon because Hexagon came for me. Officers were sent to build cases against me that had no foundation. They repeatedly raided my house at dawn. The Crown Prosecution Service was turned into an instrument for manufacturing evidence to put me in the dock. Every charge collapsed. Every allegation was dismissed. That is what an official police operation was made into. A machine for assembling false cases against a man whose only offence was refusing to look away while children were raped. The Authority Ran Straight To Andy Burnham Hexagon did not run in a vacuum. It ran under a chain of command, and that chain ends at Andy Burnham. As Mayor of Greater Manchester, Burnham holds the powers of the police and crime commissioner. He has held authority over Greater Manchester Police since 2017. Oldham is the epicentre of the scandal and the focus of Hexagon, and Oldham sits inside his remit. An operation of this kind, run in his force, in his region, against the critics of a cover up, does not happen beyond the reach of the man who commands the force. He has never answered for it. He stood in election after election and said nothing. The silence of the man who held the authority is itself the answer. They Buried The Whole Thing You have not read about Operation Hexagon in your newspaper. That is by design. Freedom of Information requests are refused with practised ease. The press that rushes to report every other case of police misconduct keeps its distance from this one. An operation confirmed to exist is reported as though it never happened. The blackout is the cover up that guards the cover up. The Man Who Oversaw It Is Walking Into Downing Street Here is why this matters now beyond anything it mattered before. Andy Burnham is on the road to Number Ten. The man who held authority over a police operation aimed at the whistleblowers of a child rape scandal is about to become the most powerful figure in the country. Operation Hexagon should have finished his career. It has been allowed to sit as a footnote that no one in Westminster and no one in the press will read aloud. Which is why it is left to us. Imagine this, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom dragged kicking and screaming in front of a national inquiry into the cover up of the Pakistani Rape Gangs where he is forced to testify under oath and defend his own actions. You don't have to imagine it. You just need to help me make it happen. For 8 years I've exposed how politicians and police covered up the gang rape of working-class White girls by Pakistani grooming gangs. I, with the support of the people of Oldham, led the campaign that forced the National Inquiry. Now, with your help, we will force this inquiry to a place it does not want to go. As Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham fronted a series of Assurance Reviews of which one was in my hometown of Oldham. It was a cover-up of a cover-up. It tried to bury the truth. Don't believe me? Ask Maggie Oliver. Even she has come to the same conclusion. Despite Burnham's efforts to help hide what took place, we forced a national inquiry. Whilst previously defending the robustness of his now exposed cover up, Burnham is now trying his best to rewrite the truth of what he really did. Unfortunately, as of yet, the national inquiry will not investigate Burnham or his actions and his deceit will go unchallenged. We hope to change this before the investigation starts in Oldham. Once Burnham is in Downing Street, the pressure to protect him will be immense. The institutions that failed these girls will try everything possible not to hold a PM accountable. Much of the press will look away, as always. This is why it is up to us to carry the truth. Which is why I'm turning this community of readers into something more than what I can manage on my own. We need to grow and become an independent investigative outlet with: - A professional website to reach larger audiences - Video editing to make this work accessible to millions - Research support so no lead goes cold - In-person events to train people - Resources to gather evidence and report from failed communities Before Burnham reaches Number 10, Red Wall and the Rabble needs 2,000 more paid subscribers to help grow and become more than a one man operation. With your help, we can do in towns and cities across the country what we have done in Oldham. Sign Up Here 👉 redwallandtherabble.co.uk Should we succeed, politicians will go to prison. It is as simple as that. Surely, on this prospect alone, it is worth your support. Raja 🙏
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MCheshireAgainstHS2 retweeted
#HS2 - not like they weren't told at start. "For every pound of taxpayers’ money spent on the project, it is expected to bring in just 30p worth of economic benefit ... “poor value for money”" thetimes.com/uk/transport/ar…
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HS2 picked routes without looking at the constraints or proposed developments. It ignored the risks of not knowing the ground conditions & the need for a very stable alignment to support high speed trains. This is a desperate attempt to change history to cover incompetence.
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How many lies are there here? Too many to list. £31m was the cost of the whole scheme to Leeds & Manchester & beyond. £100m excludes Euston & north of Birmingham. French trains travel faster than 168mph. I helped design HS2 – this is why it is broken share.google/BQ08oijaAGRjqhJ…
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MCheshireAgainstHS2 retweeted
So £102 billion may be only a small part of the total cost if Andy has its way…when does this madness ever end?
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A final business case tells the public whether a project actually makes economic sense. Starting construction without one is not ‘cutting red tape’, it is being reckless with public money. Construction has started on the Lower Thames Crossing without one – just like with HS2!
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MCheshireAgainstHS2 retweeted
Señor Benso@belebensoJun 1
Arup are also the driving force behind the deplorable 'HS2 phase 2a Lite' reboot and the #NorthernPowerhouseRail scam, both backed by #uklabour #hs2 railnews.co.uk/news/general/…
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MCheshireAgainstHS2 retweeted
Señor Benso@belebensoJun 1
Clickbait video about the 'M40 route for #HS2' says it's the "proposition put forward by some opponents of HS2". But it was actually 'put forward' by er, The Labour Party, and engineering consultancy Arup.
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MCheshireAgainstHS2 retweeted
Señor Benso@belebensoJun 1
If the 'current' costs of #HS2 were known at the time of Notice to Proceed (15 April 2020) its benefit cost ratio would be 'between 0.3 and 0.4' according to the Department for Transport
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