HS2: Is the UK bad at big infrastructure projects?
This Is Why
Sky News
4.0 • 552 Ratings
🗓️ 28 September 2023
⏱️ 25 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Now, after delays and inflation fuelled by Brexit, Covid and the invasion of Ukraine, this figure is closer to £100bn. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has also avoided answering questions on whether the Birmingham to Manchester leg of the route will go ahead, leaving the future of the project shrouded in uncertainty.
So why was the initial cost estimate so different to what the final number will be?
On the Sky News Daily, Niall Paterson sits down with our business correspondent Paul Kelso to discuss the problems with the way the UK plans major infrastructure projects and asks whether any of these projects ever come close to what they are predicted to cost.
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Transcript
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| 1:01.4 | Now, we all know that just occasionally |
| 1:04.3 | it can be slightly difficult |
| 1:06.0 | to get a straight answer from a politician. |
| 1:09.6 | Tell the people of Greater Manchester, are you scrapping the HS2 line between Birmingham and Manchester? |
| 1:16.1 | I know there's a lot of speculation on this, but we've already got spades in the ground on the first |
| 1:21.0 | bit of HS2 and what we're doing is getting on with delivering it. |
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