Boris Johnson is losing his nerve about capital infrastructure. It is a reality check about his airy promises
The government’s Integrated Rail Plan, published on Thursday, is in fact neither integrated nor a plan. If it had truly contained an integrated approach, it would have addressed national rail needs as a whole. It would have confirmed Boris Johnson’s election promise to build both the north-south HS2 line in full and the west-east Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR). It would then have committed to upgrading the remaining rail network to provide fast and regular urban connections and commuter services, especially in the north. It would also have contained a proper strategy for enticing goods services back on to rail and away from the roads.
Instead, Grant Shapps unveiled what is, in reality, a cost-cutting exercise. It has been dictated by the Treasury’s refusal to allow public infrastructure spending to exceed 3% of gross domestic product. Under this self-imposed fiscal rule, rail is competing with green investment, broadband, hospitals, schools and even space rocketry for new capital spend – and, as Thursday’s document proves, it is losing out. As a result, the transport secretary has abandoned the eastern leg of HS2 along with major parts of the trans-Pennine NPR project – while going through ludicrous presentational contortions to avoid saying so. In their place, announced with a brass neck that even Mr Johnson would have struggled to equal, the transport secretary trumpeted a cobbled-together set of cheaper upgrades and short-term fixes as if they add up to a better deal than the axed projects they replace.
