Cheryl Gillan MP: A report that underlines the need for a rethink on HS2

Cheryl Gillan is the Member of Parliament for Chesham and Amersham. Follow Cheryl on Twitter.

Today’s National Audit Office report into High Speed 2 will set off alarm bells all across Government and should bring about a major rethink of the Government’s transport policy.

The 50-page report was understatedly damning of the preparation for HS2, exposing fundamental flaws in the project and the project team. It confirmed that Government had failed to set out clear and cohesive strategic objectives and, more worryingly, highlighted the serious doubts over the ability and capacity of both the Department of Transport and its subsidiary company, HS2 Ltd, to successfully deliver the project.

The NAO judged the timetable to be overly ambitious and it has already resulted in mistakes being made by the Department on the benefit-cost calculations. The intention to introduce a Hybrid Bill in October 2013 seems now to be impossible and, therefore, it will likewise be impossible that this legislation will be passed before the next General Election. Over ambitious timetabling was also one of the contributory factors to the failure of the West Coast Mainline franchise and it would appear that the Department of Transport has failed to learn from its mistakes.

The Department comes under criticism for failure to engage adequately with stakeholders and it would even appear that it is failing to address criticisms from its own internal auditors. It is claimed that there are more than just a few problems with finding enough staff of the right calibre to give people the confidence that this project will be well implemented.

Cheryl Gillan MP: After the West Coast Main Line trouble, the case for HS2 needs to be fundamentally re-examined

Cheryl Gillan is the Member of Parliament for Chesham and Amersham. Follow Cheryl on Twitter.

The decision earlier this week by the Transport Secretary, Patrick McLoughlin, to scrap the West Coast Main Line contract has brought into question the overall integrity of the Department for Transport’s decision-making process. With this in mind, I believe that a root and branch re-examination of the whole of the High Speed 2 rail project and its viability is now essential.

On the day the news broke of the cancellation of the West Coast Mainline contract, I wrote to the Secretary of State, asking him to:

• urgently undertake a complete re-examination of HS2’s ever-worsening business case
• re-evaluate the case for the project
• look again at the basis on which all decisions have been made by the Department for Transport and HS2 Ltd. 

The West Coast Main Line contract was revoked by the Department in part due to errors in the way in which inflation and passenger numbers had been calculated. The business case and passenger forecasts for HS2 are based on similar assumptions and methodology, and must therefore be revisited as a matter of urgency.

At a cost of more than £32 billion, as calculated in 2011 but not yet updated, I want to ensure that the Government does not make one of the biggest mistakes in history by spending money on the largest infrastructure project in peacetime based on dodgy calculations and incorrect information.

Cheryl Gillan MP: Labour wants a "slate curtain" between Wales and the rest of the UK

Cheryl Gillan MP, Secretary of State for Wales, accuses Labour in Wales of taking an increasingly isolationist approach which undermines the Union.

Much of the debate about the future of the United Kingdom in recent months has focused on the SNP’s plan for a referendum on Scottish independence.

But quietly, and with growing concern, fears are being raised about Wales’ own place in the Union.

Wales’ First Minister Carwyn Jones has made a lot of noise lately about ‘the national interest’. By that he means the Welsh national interest, for the avoidance of doubt.

Following the recent EU summit he spoke of establishing direct negotiations between the Welsh Government, EU leaders and European Commissioners. He even wants to open an expensive new office in London to speak directly to foreign embassies and investors, bypassing the Foreign Office, the Wales Office and UKTI – at a time of spending cuts across government and when £1mn worth of Welsh Government office space lies empty.

Some have questioned why the First Minister is so keen to pursue his own foreign policy when he’s failed to deliver on his domestic policy. Just two Bills have been published since the Assembly acquired new powers in the March referendum. There’s been foot-dragging over incentives to grow the economy such as enterprise zones. And there’s the perennial dismal list of statistics on everything from health outcomes to exam performance across the areas where the Labour administration in Wales has actually got total responsibility.

Cheryl Gillan MP: As the Welsh Conservatives recover from the 1997 "near death experience", Labour is having to resort to the politics of the playground

Cheryl Gillan is Shadow Secretary of State for Wales.

Rarely do we Welsh politicos have any Welsh specific polling to pore over. So this week’s YouGov poll on Wales was bound to set political and journalistic tongues wagging.

As well as going into some detail on matters from constitutional arrangements to confidence in the Labour Assembly Members seeking to step into Rhodri Morgan’s shoes, the headline announcement to come out of this wealth of data was burgeoning support for the Welsh Conservatives and the utter collapse in that for Labour in Wales.

Though Labour remain top according to the poll, with 34%, the drop-off in support would translate in electoral terms to the loss of nine Parliamentary seats. Conservatives, on the other hand, were second on 31%, which would mean an increase of nine seats and a total of twelve – our best performance since 1983.

Before we get too excited, this is a poll and not an election. We know there is still a way to go to turn these predictions into reality.

Yet, to be in a position where we could achieve a double figure haul of Conservative seats shows how far we have come in the years since our "near death experience" in 1997.

Our success in Wales has developed incrementally.

We have built this support through hard work year on year. In council elections, in Assembly elections, in European elections, in Parliamentary elections, we have increased our support bit by bit at every opportunity. Indeed, we are the only party who has done this, and these poll results are indicative of that momentum and our team efforts.

A week in the life of Cheryl Gillan, Shadow Secretary of State for Wales

Thursday 27th March

Picked up my new Smart car and whilst driving back to London via the Royal Automobile Club country club, stopped and noticed there was one letter wrong on the new number plate. This left me trapped and unable to drive on to Westminster legally. Impromptu lunch with my husband whilst Mercedes Benz sent new number plates and reaffixed them to the car. Drove to Westminster legally. Spent the afternoon dealing with a mountain of correspondence and drafting press releases on various issues on Wales that seemed to have broken all at once. Guest speaker at a Coningsby Club dinner at the Carlton Club.

Friday 28th March

Left the flat at 7.30am to drive to Aylesbury for a meeting with Buckinghamshire County Council, where we were given an update on, amongst other things, the waste management solution for Buckinghamshire. It’s a particularly difficult issue as, obviously, no-one wants an incinerator or a tip in their back garden – yet it has to go somewhere. It will be interesting to see how this project develops. 

After a convivial lunch with my husband (second day running), my constituency secretary and my researcher in an excellent local pub in Amersham Old Town, I held a surgery for constituents in my Amersham office. Surgeries are always very varied affairs, throwing up wildly different but equally complex issues. I wish I had a magic wand to help with some of the saddest cases. Still, I do what I can.

Cheryl Gillan MP: Shadow Secretary of State for Wales

Cheryl is Shadow Secretary of State for Wales

Politics in Wales is changing and Welsh Conservatives are at the forefront of that change. The days when Wales was perceived as a Conservativ-free zone are over. Now with three Members of Parliament at Westminster, eleven Conservative Assembly Members, a Member of the European Member of Parliament and a seat in the Shadow Cabinet, Welsh conservative politics are on the move.

Since I was appointed as Shadow Secretary of State for Wales in December 2005, in addition to giving Wales a strong voice in the Shadow Cabinet, I have concentrated on four main areas.

Covering the Ground

Having been born and brought up in Cardiff, I have been renewing my knowledge and understanding of Wales, travelling the length and breadth of the country to ensure that I gain as much insight as possible into current issues and developments. These visits cover a vast range of areas from farms to industrial operations, from defence facilities to hospitals and schools and they consume a great deal of time and planning. But they give me the opportunity to learn at first hand what will be required in Government.

I have been impressed by our potential in Wales - from the stunningly beautiful countryside and natural assets to the cutting edge technology in our businesses. But saddened by the poverty and unresolved problems which an incoming Conservative government must address.