Patrick McLoughlin MP has stepped forward to proclaim the planned HS2 rail project potentially valuable to all parts of Britain, in the face of concerns that around 50 regional economies will be left worse off. As revealed by BBC current affairs programme Newsnight, a report by Big Four auditor KPMG found that London and the West Midlands in particular are set for an HS2 financial boost. However, the show’s investigation revealed that numerous areas could take a hit by 2037, with Aberdeenshire, Aberdeen City and Moray set to lose £220 million each, Norfolk £219 million and Cardiff £68 million.

While admitting that HS2 is “controversial”, McLoughlin said he is committed to ensuring that all parts of the country benefit from the development. “All these investments that we are looking at is to serve the people of the UK, to make the UK a place where we attract investment,” he said in a BBC interview. “It’s of no doubt to me that it’s beneficial to the UK. We need to make sure our cities in the north are able to compete with the rest of Europe as well. HS2 is vitally important overall for the long-term future of the economy.”

The government previously stated that the creation of what will be only the second high-speed railway line in Britain would add £15 billion to the UK economy each year. However, it has been accused of masking specific details of the possible losses caused by HS2 to affected towns and cities. TaxPayers’ Alliance director Jonathan Isaby accused the Coalition of selecting only the most favourable data from KPMG’s report on the likely impacts of construction.

Speaking to the Express, Isaby said: “It’s utterly dishonest for the government to have spent £250,000 of taxpayers’ money on a report and then to release only cherry-picked findings. This is further evidence, if it were needed, that the KPMG report was a taxpayer-funded propaganda exercise.”

He added: “Sadly, HS2 bosses have a track record of using dodgy numbers in an attempt to justify the white elephant’s hefty price tag. It’s time to scrap this project before any more taxpayers’ money is wasted on its construction or its expensive PR.”

HS2 will initially place a rail line between London and Birmingham by 2026, before it is extended to Manchester and Leeds. According to the government plans, the whole project is expected to be finished by 2033. However, think tank the Independent Transport Commission (ITC) has published a non-partisan report arguing that the scheme could have major economic benefits – on the condition that it is accompanied by smaller schemes that will tie it up with local transport links.

The ITC report suggests that the government needs to put investment in place to support regional development, while politicians focus on how to make sure the north and south both benefit economically from HS2. Report co-author Matthew Niblett, a transport specialist at the University of Oxford, told the Financial Times that the ITC is “becoming increasingly persuaded that there are many advantages of high-speed rail for stimulating regeneration and growth – but only if it is planned properly.”

Drawing on evidence from more than 150 organisations – both for and against the project – the study also added that if HS2 is to deliver growth, the government must define “the spatial problems it is supposed to address” to gain cross-party support.

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Image of Patrick McLoughlin courtesy of the Wikimedia Commons, via Wikipedia