Revealing their usual lack of grasp, BBC Scotland today is claiming:
Scotland has long-known it was not part of the HS2 plans but Rishi Sunak’s announcement that he is to scrap the line from Birmingham to Manchester will still have an impact north of the border.
From the BBC in December 2009:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8432051.stm
Rutherglen to London? 2hrs 30min?
Maybe Sarwar will tell Starmer to get that back on track?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-67004355?at_medium=social&at_campaign=Social_Flow&at_link_type=web_link&at_link_origin=BBCScotlandNews&at_link_id=93C37B52-62AB-11EE-A1DD-1C07681DE14E&at_format=link&at_campaign_type=owned&at_bbc_team=editorial&at_ptr_name=twitter
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
But with under 9% of the population they take our oil and gas and use the money to build things in England that hardly any of us use.
HS2 is an example of england using Scotlands money to build things in England that they say we will be able to use.
This is what happens when another country controls your money
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Maybe BBCScorchedland can manage a link between HS2 and Ferries ? How many Ferries could we get for cancelled HS2 ?
As long as Jim McColl is not involved !
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The current political and media furore on HS2 and the great ‘NORTH’ betrayal….where was the same furore on the great ‘North North’ betrayal on Scotland losing out in the Tory UK government’s carbon capture project being awarded, NOT as expected to the North North of their UK aka Scotland, but instead being awarded to Humber and Liverpool…..aah….well then that would explain why there was NO great furore or indeed any mention of a betrayal….got it…….that was a win win…..but for who ?
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I saw that headline this morning and thought,”Hang on, that’s not right, is it?”
Thanks for showing up their daily ̶L̶i̶e̶s̶, rewrites of their own news items.
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The piece from Douglas Fraser of BBC Scotland claiming ‘Scotland has long-known it was not part of the HS2 plans’ wholly misrepresents what the proponents of HS2 in Westminster have been claiming -as the main TuS blog post indicates – for years. Why is Mr Fraser framing his article in this way – to help avoid any potential negativity within Scotland towards a Westminster government over this decision? In short, the implication of his piece is ‘not too much significance for Scotland in all this’!
The TuS blog post refers to a BBC article dated 27 November 2009 to counter the view of the BBC Scotland editor. I can trump that!
From the UK government’s own website, issued 6 June 2022 by the Department of Transport: ‘Government takes action to ENSURE SCOTLAND RECEIVES BEST POSSIBLE HS2 SERVICE – Intention to remove Golborne Link from HS2 Bill announced with alternative options to be explored.’ (my emphasis)
It states: ‘The government has today (6 June 2022) COMMITTED TO LEAVING NO STONE UNTURNED WHEN IT COMES TO FINDING THE RIGHT SOLUTION TO TAKE HS2 TRAINS TO SCOTLAND.’
The same statement had this: ‘SCOTLAND IS ALREADY SET TO BENEFIT FROM THE BOOST IN CONNECTIVITY AND HUGE ECONOMIC BENEFITS HS2 WILL BRING with services between London and Glasgow set to be available, based on current timetable assumptions, once HS2 trains start running onto the conventional rail network.’
‘HS2 Minister Andrew Stephenson said: “HS2 is a ONCE-IN-A-LIFETIME PROJECT THAT WILL TRANSFORM TRAVEL ACROSS THE ENTIRE UK AS WE KNOW IT and SERVE MILLIONS OF PEOPLE FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS TO COME and it’s absolutely vital that we get this right from the outset. Removing this link is about ensuring that we’ve left no stone unturned when it comes to working with our Scottish counterparts to find a solution that will BEST SERVE THE GREAT PEOPLE OF SCOTLAND.”
This rather proves that as recently as June 2022, the Westminster government DID indeed regard Scotland as ‘part of HS2’ and would be gaining ‘huge economic benefits’ from it. The BBC Scotland Business and Economy Editor seems to be presenting a different view! Why? Is he not aware of this context?
From the Department of Transport, also in June 2022, in the document ‘HS2 Phase 2b Western Leg Crewe – Manchester – Supplement to the Update on the SOBC’ (Strategic Outline Business Case) we learn :
‘The SOBC … also outlined the scheme’s central role in REBALANCING THE UK ECONOMY BY providing the platform for economic growth and regeneration in Manchester and the North West, and its importance as THE STRATEGIC ENABLER FOR Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) and THE WIDER INTEGRATED RAIL PLAN for the North and Midlands (IRP) including HIGH SPEED SERVICES TO SCOTLAND.’
And finally from the HS2 project’s own website, in a section entitled ‘The North West and Scotland’, we read this in a reference to Glasgow Central Station:
‘SCOTLAND WILL BE PART OF THE HS2 NETWORK FROM DAY ONE and Glasgow Central will be an integrated high-speed station where passengers can catch HS2 trains and access the high-speed network to the south. HS2 will cut journey times with HS2 trains serving Edinburgh and Glasgow via the West Coast Main Line.’
And there is more: ‘HS2 will re-balance the country: HS2 WILL BENEFIT THE SCOTTISH ECONOMY BY OVER £5BN AND WILL HELP SCOTLAND COMPETE IN THE 21ST CENTURY. It will help BUILD A FAIRER, MORE BALANCED BRITAIN. It will join up the economic powerhouses of Glasgow and Edinburgh with fast, zero carbon train travel to other big cities in the UK. The UK and Scottish governments share the ultimate ambition of three-hour rail journeys between London and Scotland’s Central Belt.’
So the claims made by the Westminster government and the HS2 project organisation about benefits for Scotland based on being part of HS2 from ‘day one’ have been very substantial. But BBC Scotland is telling us now that Scotland was ‘not part of HS2’ – nothing mush to see here! Rewriting history – and to who’s benefit?
Or did BBC Scotland’s Economy and Business Editor always think these claims were always over-hyped (or perhaps just bollocks) but didn’t want to let on?
For the avoidance of doubt, I write the above not as someone supportive of HS2 but to critique BBC Scotland’s coverage of the news that is of political and economic significance for this – and BBC Scotland’s – ‘precious Union’!
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Just to finish off what I took from the article on HS2 penned today by the BBC Scotland Economy and Business Editor. He ends his piece with this: ‘Improving rail connections, and showing competence in getting big transport infrastructure delivered, was seen by the UK government as part of “Union connectivity”, and part of the argument against Scottish independence.’ Now if there is any ‘bollocks’ to be found, this remembrance surely is a candidate!
Let’s provide some ‘perspective’: you know the thing – like ‘context’ – which must be toxic for BBC Scotland’s journalists!
Research, consultations, co-operation and joint action on construction over transport infrastructure – including but not limited to rail – ACROSS NATIONAL BORDERS: are all commonplace in Europe!
For example see Bordges, L. A. (2020) TRANSPORT FOR REGIONAL INTEGRATION – INSIGHTS FROM THREE NORDIC CROSS-BORDERS REGIONS. Nordregio Report 2020-18. (http://norden.diva-portal.org/smash/get/diva2:1507688/FULLTEXT01.pdf )
And from the website of the Nordic Investment Bank, dated 1 June 2015:
“RAILWAY INFRASTRUCTURE KNOWS NO NATIONAL BORDERS. Its development requires seeing the big picture,” says Tarja Kylänpää, Head of Infrastructure Group, Origination at NIB. International financing makes up a substantial part of investments in railway infrastructure. In the past five years, the bank’s long-term financing of railway infrastructure and rolling stock renewal projects reached EUR 1 billion.’
And: ‘Linking north to south’: ‘RAIL BALTICA, A NORTH–SOUTH STRING TO LINK THE BALTIC COUNTRIES TO THE EUROPEAN MAINLAND, is about to unfold as the region’s largest railway infrastructure project. The costs of the project are estimated at about EUR 4 billion.
‘The LITHUANIAN STATE-OWNED RAILWAY COMPANY Lietuvos Gelezinkeliai is BUILDING THE FIRST 123 KILOMETRES of the European-gauge track between the country’s second-largest city of Kaunas and the border with Poland.’
And on east-west links: ‘In neighbouring Latvia, NIB has been financing the construction of the second rail track on THE 56-KILOMETRE SKRIVERI–KRUSTPILS SECTION OF THE EAST–WEST RAILWAY THAT LINKS RUSSIA AND BELARUS TO THE LATVIAN SEAPORTS OF RIGA AND VENTSPILS.’
I give the above examples because they include cross-border collaborations involving both members and non-members of the EU. Examples of within-EU cross border collaborations over transport are legion!
How on earth do these ‘foreigners’ do it, even Lithuania and Latvia? Cross-border collaboration on big infrastructure projects – such a pity that an independent Scotland would be incapable of such a thing!
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Well done John.
I finally got around to reading Douglas Fraser’s short straw article from the “FFS we can’t ignore it for the second week – ideas ?” staff meeting, and fell over the first paragraph in disbelief…
George Brown who originated HS2 will be along shortly with quote…. “Look at the small print…”
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