As a Westcountry lad the part of the press release that made me laugh the most, and also realise it was complete bunkum, was the mention of 'funding the opening of railway lines between Cullompton and Wellington.' You'd think that someone at the DfT might have realised that not only is there already a line between those 2 places but that it has been in continuous use since, I think, the 1840's.
Would it be in the interests of the hard right of the Tory Party to now bring Sunak down, and force a general election?
I agree about Starmer being too cautious. All he needs to say is that when Labour wins, it won’t rush into a budget, but will take a long detailed analysis of all capital projects, including HS2.
It could spend the first parliamentary session on projects not requiring much in the way of capital spending: electoral law, equality etc
Sunak combines the two character types that dominate the contemporary Conservatives, Grinning Plutocrat and Chippy Inadequate. Hence his support for that consummate act of national chippiness, Brexit. Inside the Tories, the two types need each other. The Plutos make the Chippies more chippy and the Chippies make the Plutos more Pluto. Together, they've smashed this country up something proper.
"Clearly it's a trap for Labour, but that trap does not need to function. If Labour were to announce today that it will initiate a compulsory purchase order of the land, it would kill its value and make a sale all-but impossible. Hell, it doesn't even need to do that. I can just say it's still looking at the numbers, but that it is minded to continue with HS2. That would also kill the value of the land. It would send a message to the civil service, who are at this point starting to prepare for a new incoming government, by encouraging officials to move slowly with the sell-off project. "
As somebody who had the misfortune to deal with PFI projects back in the day, I think a CPO announcement probably won't work. Most asset transfer contracts like this contain (or certainly used to) clauses that prevent compulsory reacquisition of the asset without hefty compensation - and a current government hell-bent on scorched earth will make sure they do. Furthermore, if Labour decided to CPO anyway and ignore these clauses they'd need to hope that the acquirer didn't have a single foreign investor: otherwise its likely to end up in an ISDS arbritation mechanism which will order compensation.
Indicating to the civil service to slow things down might have some impact, but it's a while to the next election and, as with Major's botched rail privatisation, a government that desperately wants to force things through pre-election will probably find a way.
A separate point to raise is that what money would be used to repurchase the land? Harper was on the radio this morning saying that the sale income would 'roughly balance' the cost of cancelling the Phase 2 contracts as they're going to have to pay hundreds of millions in cancellation fees. So the money will have been spent and Labour would need to find it all over again.
I don't think I've been as furious about any recent Tory decision than the burn-it-all-down pettiness of Sunak over HS2 but I think Labour are right that, by the time they get in, it's a done deal. I'm also worried about what other things Sunak is going to do over the next year.
Interesting. I suppose it then depends on the words Starter uses to caveat the committment. If he announced Labour's intention to reverse this and the Tories continue to take steps to make it impossible, I expect Labour could get some mileage out of calling those out, before and after the election.
The engineers will have surveyed more than one route Manchester to Birmingham, Starmer can dust off the 2007-9 plans and build route B. The massive tunnel boring machines currently parked can dig to St. Pancras, skip Euston and meet HS1 for Paris.
I'm getting pissed off at the "salting the earth" narrative. Even with all the land sold off, at the next election, Phase 2a remains demonstrably nearer reality than it was at the 2019 election. At that time, the bill was still going through Parliament. Now, it's law. The Secretary of State for Transport will have the power to compulsorily purchase the land (again, if necessary) until 2026, and can extend those powers until 2031. The land value already is "only" about £200m - sounds a lot, but is peanuts in the context both of the budget for HS2 and government spending. This is so easily reversible, it's horrible to listen to the narrative taking hold. Obviously makes Sunak a prick for doing it, but Starmer shouldn't just be accepting it.
I suspect the narrative has taken hold because the human-interest angle is Tory Cunts. Even the FT has succumbed. Being cunts is necessary, but not sufficient, for effective cunting.
As a Westcountry lad the part of the press release that made me laugh the most, and also realise it was complete bunkum, was the mention of 'funding the opening of railway lines between Cullompton and Wellington.' You'd think that someone at the DfT might have realised that not only is there already a line between those 2 places but that it has been in continuous use since, I think, the 1840's.
Would it be in the interests of the hard right of the Tory Party to now bring Sunak down, and force a general election?
I agree about Starmer being too cautious. All he needs to say is that when Labour wins, it won’t rush into a budget, but will take a long detailed analysis of all capital projects, including HS2.
It could spend the first parliamentary session on projects not requiring much in the way of capital spending: electoral law, equality etc
Sunak combines the two character types that dominate the contemporary Conservatives, Grinning Plutocrat and Chippy Inadequate. Hence his support for that consummate act of national chippiness, Brexit. Inside the Tories, the two types need each other. The Plutos make the Chippies more chippy and the Chippies make the Plutos more Pluto. Together, they've smashed this country up something proper.
"Clearly it's a trap for Labour, but that trap does not need to function. If Labour were to announce today that it will initiate a compulsory purchase order of the land, it would kill its value and make a sale all-but impossible. Hell, it doesn't even need to do that. I can just say it's still looking at the numbers, but that it is minded to continue with HS2. That would also kill the value of the land. It would send a message to the civil service, who are at this point starting to prepare for a new incoming government, by encouraging officials to move slowly with the sell-off project. "
As somebody who had the misfortune to deal with PFI projects back in the day, I think a CPO announcement probably won't work. Most asset transfer contracts like this contain (or certainly used to) clauses that prevent compulsory reacquisition of the asset without hefty compensation - and a current government hell-bent on scorched earth will make sure they do. Furthermore, if Labour decided to CPO anyway and ignore these clauses they'd need to hope that the acquirer didn't have a single foreign investor: otherwise its likely to end up in an ISDS arbritation mechanism which will order compensation.
Indicating to the civil service to slow things down might have some impact, but it's a while to the next election and, as with Major's botched rail privatisation, a government that desperately wants to force things through pre-election will probably find a way.
A separate point to raise is that what money would be used to repurchase the land? Harper was on the radio this morning saying that the sale income would 'roughly balance' the cost of cancelling the Phase 2 contracts as they're going to have to pay hundreds of millions in cancellation fees. So the money will have been spent and Labour would need to find it all over again.
I don't think I've been as furious about any recent Tory decision than the burn-it-all-down pettiness of Sunak over HS2 but I think Labour are right that, by the time they get in, it's a done deal. I'm also worried about what other things Sunak is going to do over the next year.
Interesting. I suppose it then depends on the words Starter uses to caveat the committment. If he announced Labour's intention to reverse this and the Tories continue to take steps to make it impossible, I expect Labour could get some mileage out of calling those out, before and after the election.
The engineers will have surveyed more than one route Manchester to Birmingham, Starmer can dust off the 2007-9 plans and build route B. The massive tunnel boring machines currently parked can dig to St. Pancras, skip Euston and meet HS1 for Paris.
I'm getting pissed off at the "salting the earth" narrative. Even with all the land sold off, at the next election, Phase 2a remains demonstrably nearer reality than it was at the 2019 election. At that time, the bill was still going through Parliament. Now, it's law. The Secretary of State for Transport will have the power to compulsorily purchase the land (again, if necessary) until 2026, and can extend those powers until 2031. The land value already is "only" about £200m - sounds a lot, but is peanuts in the context both of the budget for HS2 and government spending. This is so easily reversible, it's horrible to listen to the narrative taking hold. Obviously makes Sunak a prick for doing it, but Starmer shouldn't just be accepting it.
Agreed.
I suspect the narrative has taken hold because the human-interest angle is Tory Cunts. Even the FT has succumbed. Being cunts is necessary, but not sufficient, for effective cunting.
(With apologies to the Chief.)