Matthew Sinclair argues that the government’s plans for high-speed rail would not create enough jobs to justify the
government spending money on the project. But his argument is disingenuous as he is not comparing like for like. He is comparing predictions about jobs created directly by high-speed rail with
predictions about jobs created indirectly by investment in the wider economy.
The 40,000 jobs created directly by high-speed rail are simply the tip of the iceberg – tens of thousands more will be created by the investment boom in the cities the new line will link up. These are the jobs being created by the “wider economy” that he mentions, but which the government does not attempt to quantify. The calculations he makes are therefore fundamentally flawed and do not stand up to scrutiny.
A high speed network in Britain has the potential to generate benefits of around £44 billion. For every pound the taxpayer puts in, it will get £2.60 back, that sounds like a pretty good deal to me. But the arguments being put forward by the Taxpayers Alliance also fundamentally miss the point. We don’t appraise the value of, say, spending money building a new hospital only on the basis of the number of new nurses and doctors it will employ and nothing else.
And that is the key point – we are facing a looming transport crisis. As anyone who uses our railways regularly will tell you, our trains are full and demand for intercity travel is soaring. No amount of tinkering around the edges will solve this problem.
We have two choices – we either build a new conventional speed line or a new high speed line. HS2 estimate that building a conventional line between London and the West Midlands would cost around 90 percent as much as an equivalent high-speed line, yet deliver 33 percent fewer benefits. The correct choice is obvious; we need to invest in a new high-speed rail network for Britain. I would expect serious pressure groups in favour of spending public money wisely to back this project.
Professor David Begg is Chairman of the Northern Way Transport Group
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