Michael Fabricant in final bid to derail HS2

In the House of Commons this week the final plans for phase one of the high speed rail link – London to Birmingham and Lichfield – were unveiled, but Lichfield MP Mr Fabricant put forward an amendment which would annul the bill if passed.

Criticising the 'unnecessary environmental damage', the 'inadequate compensation' and the 'insufficient station provision to connect adequately with other modes of transport', among others, Mr Fabricant called on the House to decline to give the High Speed Rail Bill a third reading.

In a statement released after his amendment, the outspoken MP said: "Unless Labour and the SNP can be persuaded to vote against the Government along with Conservative rebels like me on Third Reading and inflict a defeat as they did on Sunday Trading, this legislation will pass by the end of the month.

"This amendment, if passed, would in effect annul the legislation and would fall. I have done it in this way because I do not oppose HS2 on principle and I recognise its benefits to Birmingham.

"However, its execution is clumsy and expensive. By not using existing transport corridors such as routing alongside motorways and existing rail lines, it is damaging to the environment and more expensive – by at least £8 billion – than it need be due to the extra tunnelling required.

"But it's even worse than that."

He added: "HS2 won't connect with the Channel Tunnel and the continent or even major airports like Heathrow. Travelling to Paris from Birmingham, far from getting on the train and waking up in Paris as we had originally been promised, commuters will face a trek across London with their bags from Euston station to St Pancras station to board another train.

"In future people will look back at this project and say 'This was no way to design a railway'!"