Stop HS2 Newsletter - 13-Oct-2013

Dear Stop HS2 Supporter,

As always it’s been a very busy time for the Stop HS2 campaign. Topics covered in this newsletter include: Consultations, Party Conferences, new people at the top, new reports, legal challenges, Parliamentary process and funding.

Consultations.

There are currently two HS2 consultations ongoing. These are main consultation on Phase 2 of the route and the fourth consultation on Phase 1 compensation. HS2 Ltd will be holding road shows (many with Stop HS2 events outside), but nothing like the number and frequency which we saw with the Phase 1 consultation. We strongly recommend that you attend these road shows in your area, and a list of venues and dates can be found at http://stophs2.org/consultation.

New People at the Top.

The revolving door at the DfT has revolved again, and out have gone Norman Baker and Simon Burns. They are replaced by Conservative Scarborough MP Robert Goodwill as Under-Secretary of State and Liberal-Democrat Baroness Susan Kramer as Transport Minister. Oddly the Northern MP has been put in charge of the Southern end of the route, while the London-based Baroness has been put in charge of the Northern end. We’d very much like you to contact the new people and tell them what you think of HS2. You can email them at kramers@parliament.uk and robert.goodwill.mp@parliament.uk. A worrying development was that Simon Burns MP quit transport to stand for Deputy Speaker. If he does get the job, he would have a key role in deciding how and on what people could petition the Joint Committee of the HS2 Hybrid Bill.
On the Labour benches, Mary Creagh MP has replaced Maria Eagle as Shadow Secretary of State for Transport. Many commentators saw this as Labour preparing for a potential u-turn. Whilst Creagh said on the day of her appointment that she was “totally committed to HS2”, by the very next day she was saying that although Labour would support the HS2 Paving Bill, they will decide in the spring whether or not to support the Hybrid Bill. The email address for Mary Creagh is creaghm@parliament.uk
The other new face at HS2 Ltd is David Higgins who replaces Douglas Oakervee, also known as ‘Captain Invisible’, as chair of the quango. Higgins comes in from Network Rail, who under his tenure have seen increased debts and falling profits, so he should fit in perfectly at HS2 Ltd. He has already said that the HS2 budget may go up.

Party Conferences

Party Conference season is now over, and a huge thank you to everyone who helped with funding and at the conferences. Campaign Manager Joe Rukin gave a speech at UKIP conference.
Our stand at Labour Conference was very well received, especially with Ed Balls raising a big question mark over HS2 at the conference, saying “The debate is now not whether HS2 is a good idea or not, but whether it is the best way to spend fifty billion pounds”. The team felt a marked difference from previous Labour conferences, with the mood within the party becoming far more sceptical of the project.
There was a great turnout form the Cheshire Action Groups at the Conservative Conference in Manchester. Although many people were agreeing with us outside the conference, they didn’t want to be seen inside with a Stop HS2 leaflet. Read into that what you will!

New Reports

Two new reports have come out recently about HS2.

The first, a report which the Government paid KPMG a quarter of a million quid for, concluded that HS2 would be worth £15bn per year to the UK economy. To put that into context, previously the official business case said HS2 would only reap £44bn worth of benefits across the lifetime of the project! The way KPMG came up with these benefits was by inventing a brand new, untested methodology which ignored many factors which their case would depend on. In addition, despite a new official business case being imminent, the report was based on the 2012 business case, including the suspended link to Heathrow, It also contained a very long disclaimer which basically said no-one should rely on anything it says, meaning in reality that the report was made for PR reasons and nothing else.
A more thought-through report has just been produced by the independent Parliamentary Treasury Select Committee, who have echoed previous reports from the Public Accounts Committee and National Audit Office by saying “There appear to be serious shortcomings…….. The economic case must be looked at again…..The Bill should not proceed until this work has been done and the project has been formally reassessed by the Government….. A more convincing economic case for the project is needed.” We won’t hold our breath on the Government listening.

Legal Challenges

Next week, the Supreme Court will hear legal appeals against HS2. There is still no date for the Governments appeal against the Information Commissioners ruling that the Major Projects Authority reports into HS2 should be released.

Parliamentary Process

The HS2 Paving (Blank Cheque) Bill is due back in the House of Commons within weeks for it’s third reading. With Labour saying they will back it, it is unlikely it will be stopped before it goes to the House of Lords.  In spite of Labour figures now saying “There is no blank cheque for HS2”, a blank cheque is exactly what the Paving Bill asks for. Please email your MP via www.highspeedrail.org.uk and pass this message on. We will have further actions to take when this bill comes to the Lords, who we hope will put it under more scrutiny.
The Government are still saying that the Phase 1 Hybrid Bill will be deposited later this year, although there are rumours it won’t be until next year. When it does go in, there will be a bit of a rush, with an eight-week period for people and organisations who are ‘materially affected’ to lodge petitions.  Representatives from Stop HS2 intend to register as ‘Roll B Agents’, to help people wanting to make petitions. More information on lodging petitions can be found here http://www.parliament.uk/documents/upload/commonspetitioningkit.pdf.
There are two other pieces of legislation going through at the moment which could seriously hurt the Stop HS2 campaign and similar campaigns. The first is tucked away in the Local Government Audit Bill, and would potentially stop any local council, all the way from County to Parish Council, from campaigning against any issue which is “Established Government Policy”.
The other piece of legislation is the Lobbying (or ‘Gagging’) Bill, which seeks to limit the activities of any campaign organisation for the entire year running up to an election. The case of Stop HS2 shows just how unworkable this law would be as it would require every one of over 100 action groups as well as the 3 national organisations to provide consolidated accounts to the Electoral Commission within 3 months of an election. It would also set a maximum spend on all Stop HS2 activities per constituency (encompassing all action groups and other bodies) of under £10,000 for the entire year running up to a General Election. As a result, Stop HS2 has joined the Civil Society Commission, along with organisations such as Amnesty International, Mums Net, Christian Aid, NUS, 38 Degrees, the WI and the Woodland and Wildlife Trusts. More details can be found here http://civilsocietycommission.info/

Funding

Everything we do centrally relies on funding from you.  One off donations are great, but regular funding helps us plan. Details of how you can donate can be found via this link http://stophs2.org/donate/    But with Christmas coming up, you can support Stop HS2 for FREE when shopping online with over 2,000 popular retailers, including Amazon, Argos, M&S, John Lewis, Debenhams, eBay, iTunes, HMV, Vodafone, DELL, The Body Shop, PLAY.com, Interflora, Comet and many more. Go to our page at www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/stophs2/  to register to support Stop HS2.

After you have registered for Stop HS2, please click the ‘Raise More’ link and install the 'Find & Remind' service, as this will automatically alert you when you are shopping online if a donation is available from the retailer and reminds you to login. It's the perfect way to make sure we never miss out on a valuable donation from easyfundraising, which costs you nothing!
And if you are doing your Christmas shopping, there is a good chance that someone you know might like something from the Stop HS2 shop, which can be found here http://www.stophs2-officialmerchandise.co.uk/.

And Finally

If you have been forwarded this email, you can sign up for regular updates at http://stophs2.org/mailing-list/216-join-our-e-mail-list/

You can also follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/stophs2 and Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/STOP.HS2. And there’s also our Youtube channel where you can see interviews and reports on HS2, including the recent edition of BBC Question Time, when HS2 came up. You can view it here http://t.co/p3GlIZ1llN

Thank you for all your support both to the national team and to your local action group.  It's through the efforts of many thousands of ordinary people that we will win this campaign.

Joe, Penny, Rae and the Stop HS2 team

PS Remember to write to the new ministers, new shadow minister and your MP.