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<\/p>\nBack in 2009, I was a minister in Gordon Brown\u2019s government and travelled with him to Birmingham to look at plans for a high-speed rail link to London.<\/p>\n
Standing on a derelict site in the UK\u2019s second city, we heard how the new line would bring billions in investment, regenerate the area and create thousands of jobs.<\/p>\n
While it would allow people in the Midlands to commute to London, it would also take pressure off the capital\u2019s overheated economy by giving business owners in the South East the opportunity to move their companies and jobs to the North.<\/p>\n
HS2, as it came to be called, was the first example of what is now called levelling up.<\/p>\n
When the coalition government took power a year later, David Cameron got behind the project, backing not just the route to Birmingham but new lines linking the city to the North, too.<\/p>\n
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HS2, as it came to be called, was the first example of what is now called levelling up (file image)<\/p>\n
After Parliament passed the relevant legislation and the necessary planning permissions were obtained for a line that would bypass hundreds of towns and villages, construction commenced at over 300 sites and, in the intervening years, miles of tunnel have been dug.<\/p>\n
But earlier this year it emerged that the Birmingham line would terminate \u2013 initially at least \u2013 not in central London at Euston station but at Old Oak Common some miles to the west. And last week news broke of a cost-cutting proposal to scrap the link to Manchester altogether.<\/p>\n
Labour, who ought to be standing up for investment and jobs in the regions, meekly say they have to look at the books before deciding whether they will continue to back a project launched by its last prime minister.<\/p>\n
Both the Government and opposition need to show some ambition and vision.<\/p>\n
While the scheme is wildly over budget \u2013 its cost having spiralled from an initial estimate of \u00a355.7billion to more than \u00a3100billion \u2013 it promises huge economic and environmental benefits.<\/p>\n
I always thought one of the strongest arguments in favour of HS2 was that it would create space for freight, currently moved by CO2-spewing lorries on the motorway network, to be shipped by rail, one of the greenest modes of transport available.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, reducing the travel time between London and Birmingham Airport to 37 minutes could also take pressure off Heathrow \u2013 which has long campaigned for the right to construct a third runway \u2013 with all the environmental benefits that would have for the capital.<\/p>\n
And improved access to the North would provide long-term economic benefits to towns and cities with high levels of unemployment that are desperate for skilled jobs in construction,<\/p>\n
To lose our nerve now will not only deny us these benefits but cause great damage to our international prestige.<\/p>\n
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Earlier this year it emerged that the Birmingham line would terminate \u2013 initially at least \u2013 not in central London at Euston station but at Old Oak Common some miles to the west (Pictured: A digital mockup of HS2)<\/p>\n
What would it say about our country \u2013 the nation that pioneered rail travel with the invention of the steam train in the early 19th century \u2013 that we can no longer build a modern railway?<\/p>\n
And what message would it send out to investors from around the world who have invested in Birmingham and Manchester in anticipation of the economic benefits the new lines would bring?<\/p>\n
The Government would pay a very heavy political price too. How can ministers tell politicians in northern Red Wall seats at their party conference in Manchester next week that they are scrapping one of the most important investment projects the North has ever seen, with a general election less than a year away? Of course, the country faces huge economic challenges.<\/p>\n
The costs of Covid have left us with massive debts \u2013 but this is a 20-year project to build a railway for the coming decades and strengthen our economy for the long-term. Far from being one of the causes of our current crisis, HS2 is part of the solution.<\/p>\n
Our economy is bedevilled by sluggish growth, a skills shortage and low productivity.<\/p>\n
We have high levels of unemployment in the major cities and a transport network that cannot cope with the needs of local businesses.<\/p>\n
The new rail line helps answer all of those problems.<\/p>\n
When it comes to transport infrastructure in London and the South East, no one turns a hair at multi-billion pound projects such as the Elizabeth Line, which \u2013 like HS2 \u2013 took much longer and cost a great deal more than had been planned.<\/p>\n
Yet when it comes to the Midlands and the North such projects appear to be viewed as optional extras to be dispensed with on a whim.<\/p>\n
If the Government really wants to level up the country and persuade voters in the Midlands and the North that it is on their side, ministers must hold their nerve and finish the job.<\/p>\n