Bin HS2 Now, Jacob Rees-Mogg Says
7 January 2019, 10:07
Jacob Rees-Mogg urges the government to scrap the controversial HS2 rail line before spending a further £98bn on it.
Speaking to Nick Ferrari in the first Ring Rees-Mogg of 2019, the Tory backbencher said that he thought "binning HS2 is an easy save"
"Any sensible government would want to save this ridiculous amount of money," he said.
"We mustn't be led astray by the sunk cost fallacy, that is to say we've already spent £2bn on it but that it would be better to stop now than to plough ahead and spend £98bn badly because we've already spent a couple of billion."
His comments follow Liz Truss' suggestion that the controversial high speed rail line could be scrapped to save costs.
The Treasury Minister said that the government must be prepared to pull the plug on big projects that are hit by spiralling costs.
In December last year Sir Terry Morgan resigned as chairman of HS2 Ltd and Crossrail Ltd amid delays and the expectation the high-speed railway will exceed its budget.
