Business Travel News EuropeBusiness Travel News Europe
Business Travel News Europe
  • NEWSOpen Menu
    • Accommodation
    • Air Travel
    • Ground Transport
    • Management
    • Meetings
    • On the Move
    • Payment & Expense
    • Technology
    • TMC & Distribution
    • Travel Procurement
    • Recent Issues
  • FEATURESOpen Menu
    • View All Features
  • CONVERSATIONSOpen Menu
    • Interviews and Q&As
    • Guest columns
    • Podcasts
    • VIEW ALL CONVERSATIONS
  • RESOURCESOpen Menu
    • Powered Up: The travel tech of today & tomorrow
    • The Future of Meetings
    • Smart Money: Cards, payments & expenses
    • The Journey Towards Sustainable Business Travel
    • Safety Measures: Risk, duty of care & wellbeing
    • Stepping It Up: Small & midsized travel programmes
    • Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in business travel
    • Business Travel Rebooted
    • New Horizons: The 2022 sourcing guide
    • The 2022 Hotlist
    • Wheels in Motion
  • EVENTSOpen Menu
    • Webinars
    • Business Travel Show Europe
    • Business Travel Show Europe Kick Off
    • Business Travel Awards Europe
    • Business Travel Intelligence Summit Europe
    • Business Travel Accommodation Summit
    • Business Travel Tech Talk
    • Entertainment Travel Summit
    • Global Travel Risk Summit
    • Strategic Meetings Summit
    • Sustainable Business Travel Summit Europe
    • VIEW ALL EVENTS
  • SUBSCRIBE
  • NEWSOpen Menu
    • Accommodation
    • Air Travel
    • Ground Transport
    • Management
    • Meetings
    • On the Move
    • Payment & Expense
    • Technology
    • TMC & Distribution
    • Travel Procurement
    • Recent Issues
  • FEATURESOpen Menu
    • View All Features
  • CONVERSATIONSOpen Menu
    • Interviews and Q&As
    • Guest columns
    • Podcasts
    • VIEW ALL CONVERSATIONS
  • RESOURCESOpen Menu
    • Powered Up: The travel tech of today & tomorrow
    • The Future of Meetings
    • Smart Money: Cards, payments & expenses
    • The Journey Towards Sustainable Business Travel
    • Safety Measures: Risk, duty of care & wellbeing
    • Stepping It Up: Small & midsized travel programmes
    • Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in business travel
    • Business Travel Rebooted
    • New Horizons: The 2022 sourcing guide
    • The 2022 Hotlist
    • Wheels in Motion
  • EVENTSOpen Menu
    • Webinars
    • Business Travel Show Europe
    • Business Travel Show Europe Kick Off
    • Business Travel Awards Europe
    • Business Travel Intelligence Summit Europe
    • Business Travel Accommodation Summit
    • Business Travel Tech Talk
    • Entertainment Travel Summit
    • Global Travel Risk Summit
    • Strategic Meetings Summit
    • Sustainable Business Travel Summit Europe
    • VIEW ALL EVENTS
  • SUBSCRIBE
Business Travel News Europe
  • Business Travel News Europe on Twitter
  • BTN Europe on LinkedIn
  • BTN Europe on Facebook
  • NEWS
    • Accommodation
    • Air Travel
    • Ground Transport
    • Management
    • Meetings
    • On the Move
    • Payment & Expense
    • Technology
    • TMC & Distribution
    • Travel Procurement
    • Recent Issues
    SubscribeBTN Europe NewsletterBTN Europe Magazine
  • FEATURES
    • View All Features
    2023 Hotlist BTN EuropeThe 2023 Hotlist
    Shanghai ChinaThe great reopening of China?
    Europe from spaceA European tour

  • CONVERSATIONS
    • Interviews and Q&As
    • Guest columns
    • Podcasts
    • VIEW ALL CONVERSATIONS
    David DuffyHow the EU has fixed ESG
    Helen HodgkinsonLet payments shine a light on your environmental impact
    John Sturino, vice president of product and technology, EgenciaWhy business travellers need more control over their trips
  • RESOURCES
    • Powered Up: The travel tech of today & tomorrow
    • The Future of Meetings
    • Smart Money: Cards, payments & expenses
    • The Journey Towards Sustainable Business Travel
    • Safety Measures: Risk, duty of care & wellbeing
    • Stepping It Up: Small & midsized travel programmes
    • Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in business travel
    • Business Travel Rebooted
    • New Horizons: The 2022 sourcing guide
    • The 2022 Hotlist
    • Wheels in Motion
    Tools & ResourcesEurope's Leading TMCs 2022Booking tools – the essential guideCorporate Travel Index EuropeTravel entry requirementsBTN Europe podcastsBTSE Kick Off - CEO InterviewsRecent issues of BTN Europe
  • EVENTS
    • Webinars
    • Business Travel Show Europe
    • Business Travel Show Europe Kick Off
    • Business Travel Awards Europe
    • Business Travel Intelligence Summit Europe
    • Business Travel Accommodation Summit
    • Business Travel Tech Talk
    • Entertainment Travel Summit
    • Global Travel Risk Summit
    • Strategic Meetings Summit
    • Sustainable Business Travel Summit Europe
    • VIEW ALL EVENTS
    Business Travel Show Europe Kick Off

    Business Travel Show Europe Kick Off, 23 February,

    7th Annual Global Travel Risk Summit Europe

    Global Travel Risk Summit Europe, May 2023,

    Sustainable Business Travel Summit Europe

    3rd Annual Sustainable Business Travel Summit

  • SUBSCRIBE

Ground Transport

Westminster Watch: Politics on the line

By Gareth Morgan / 7 May 2019
Share

Looking at the Conservative leader hopefuls, the high speed train project’s second phase could be in doubt

It will not have escaped your notice that discipline has broken down somewhat in politics, particularly on the Conservative side where the “whip” is frequently ignored completely and Cabinet leaks like a sieve.

We are at historic levels of indiscipline and it is only going to get worse, primarily because we are in the middle of an unofficial Conservative leadership contest.

Theresa May has announced to colleagues that she will stand down at some point and only has until December 2019 until she could be subjected to another vote of No Confidence from MPs (one this time she is highly likely to lose). This was an opening shot for candidates across the party to start gearing up their efforts by giving high-profile speeches, pulling together campaign teams and canvassing for support from MP colleagues.

Speak to most active Conservatives and they’ll tell you that the party membership has changed in the past year and they work on the assumption that the successor to May “must be a Leaver”. This may well be true (most frontrunners are on record as being Leavers or doing their best to seem like it) but there is another issue that is looking like being a defining one in the contest – HS2.

Look at the list of potential contenders and you’ll see a number on record as being against the scheme; Andrea Leadsom (”vanity project”), Jacob Rees-Mogg (“pull the plug”), Boris Johnson (“other projects… ought to take precedence”), Esther McVey (“huge waste of money”). Others, such as Michael Gove, are against it in private and Liz Truss, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury (herself a leadership contender), has indicated that it will be looked at as part of the Spending Review this year.

Consider also the grassroots of the party (and also that the names above are positioning themselves for a membership vote). In 2017 the influential Conservative Home website presented party members with a list of possible Conservative policies and asked them to indicate, on a scale of one to ten, what priority they would give them. HS2 came 34th… out of 34.

The reasons for this dislike are broad – destruction of countryside (unfortunately for HS2 it cuts through a number of constituencies with high-profile MPs), money that could be used for the NHS or spent on local transport projects… or HS3… or east-west links. One thing is clear – very few senior MPs are willing to defend the project publicly.

How terminal is this? Well for Phase 1 maybe not too much. Legislation has been passed for London-Birmingham, contracts signed and some works have begun. But for Phase 2 (to Manchester and Leeds) there could be real challenges ahead.

The legislation for this phase is due to enter Parliament in 2020, but to get to that stage requires political will. Which new PM is going to spend that political capital on a scheme that is so unloved? True, there are many promises made in campaigns that disappear when in office but the voices against the scheme are significant and there is relative silence from potential supporters. Something will need to change for HS2 to be delivered in the way envisaged when it was mooted in 2009. Since then its creators have exited the stage but its opponents are about to take on the main role.

More Ground Transport
Related
France votes to ban short-haul domestic flightsFrance’s Swile Travel expands partnership with Trainline
CTM-partnership-trainlineUK business travellers increasingly seek low carbon options
Eurostar Group aims to double traffic as new brand launchesEurostar Group aims to double traffic as new brand launches

SPONSORED CONTENT

The workplace has changed. Does your travel & expense match up?
The workplace has changed. Does your travel & expense match up?By Cytric by Amadeus

Does your travel & expense match up?... KEEP READING

The eight trends shaping ground transportation
The eight trends shaping ground transportationBy Enterprise National

Eight emerging ground transportation priorities shaping business travel in 2022 and beyond... KEEP READING

More Ground Transport

France’s Swile Travel expands partnership with Trainline
UK business travellers increasingly seek low carbon options
Eurostar Group aims to double traffic as new brand launches
French national strike causes major travel disruption

VIEW ALL
  • Most Read
  • Most Shared
  1. Amex GBT adopts ‘segment-driven model’ as Geall takes SME role
  2. Eurostar Group aims to double traffic as new brand launches
  3. Air France launches new business class cabin on long-haul routes
  4. The great reopening of China?
  5. Gray Dawes acquires Australian TMC to start global expansion
  1. Brexit challenges pile up for UK-EU business travel
  2. Netherlands government appoints business travel partners
  3. European hotel bookings approaching pre-Covid levels
  4. TouristMobile adds Torsten Kriedt to leadership roster
  5. Countries agree goal of achieving net zero for aviation by 2050
Business Travel News EuropeBusiness Travel News Europe
  • About us
  • Contact us
  • Advertise
  • EDITORIAL CALENDAR
  • Business Travel Show Europe
  • Business Travel News Europe on Twitter
  • BTN Europe on LinkedIn
  • BTN Europe on Facebook
BUSINESS TRAVEL NEWS EUROPE
NORTHSTAR TRAVEL GROUP
Business Travel News
  • About us
  • Contact us
  • Advertise
  • Editorial calendar
  • Editorial guidelines
  • Subscribe to BTN Europe
  • Subscribe to BTN U.S.
  • Subscribe to Travel Procurement
  • Privacy policy
  • Terms & conditions
Northstar Travel Group
  • Corporate travel
  • Business Travel Show
  • Business Travel Awards
  • BTN U.S.
  • The Beat
  • Travel Procurement

  • Travel Technology
  • Travel Tech Show
  • Phocuswire
  • Phocuswright
  • Intelliguide
  • Meetings & incentives
  • M&IT
  • AMI
  • ConventionSource
  • M&IT Awards

  • Retail travel
  • Travel Weekly
  • Travel Pulse

  • Northstar Travel Group
  • View all Northstar brands
BTNGroup
Business Travel News EuropeBusiness Travel NewsTravel ProcurementThe BeatBusiness Travel Show Europe
Northstar Travel Group
Copyright ©2022, Northstar Travel Media Ltd, The Epworth, 25 City Road, London EC1Y 1AA, UK
RRManagement rrtestprocurement