SNP HS2 plans branded bizarre

The party's deputy leader Stewart Hosie has said starting the £50 billion rail line in Edinburgh or Glasgow, rather than building phase one from London to Birmingham, would be a condition for propping up a minority Labour government led by Ed Miliband.

Mr Hosie said: "If the polls are right and our substantial lead is translated into votes in a hung parliament position, if there was a minority Labour administration which needed our help in order to get their legislation through, we might well make a case for saying look, let's not have HS2 go to Manchester and Birmingham, let's have it start in Edinburgh, Glasgow, coming through Newcastle as well, so we have a joined up high-speed rail network across the whole of the island, to the benefit of everybody, not just those travelling from Birmingham to the south."

But the idea has been rubbished by the Conservatives, who said it would be a waste of the money spent so far on planning the work while UKIP said they believe HS2 should be dropped altogether.

And Labour's leader on the West Midlands Integrated Transport Authority, called the demand 'bizarre'.

Councillor Roger Lawrence said: "It's not a question of changing the route, it's about where it starts. HS2 wasn't going to be on new track in Scotland, it was going to run on existing track.

"The project doesn't work for anyone unless the capacity between Birmingham and London is increased. It's a bizarre idea of the SNP and almost as bizarre as wanting a high speed link across the north that doesn't join up to anything else."

Gavin Williamson, the Conservative defending his seat in South Staffordshire, was previously parliamentary private secretary to the transport secretary, Patrick McLoughlin. Mr Williamson said: "We're in danger of a very perverse decision being made to get the SNP on board with Labour. The risk is of having to accept things demanded by a party that does not even believe in the United Kingdom."

Jill Seymour, the West Midlands UKIP MEP and transport spokesman, said: "It shows how silly the whole idea of HS2 is.

"It's been going on for years, with plans to rip through the countryside and the whole thing could be changed again.

"There's no logic being applied to this at all."