Delegates at Green Party conference in Manchester have voted for HS2 to be funded and completed in full, including the entire Eastern leg and an underground through station at Manchester Piccadilly. The policy development comes as phase one of HS2 between London and Birmingham is well under construction.
Commenting on the revised Green Party policy, co-leader Carla Denyer MP, said:
“The Green Party has long supported the principle of a new north-south high-speed rail line but had serious concerns about the specific route of HS2 and the environmental impacts of this route.
“However, this first phase of HS2 between London and Birmingham is well under way and most of the environmental impacts of construction are already baked in. So this is a pragmatic decision by the Green Party. It moves us on.
“Crucially, we have also acknowledged that the northern leg of HS2 was always the most important in terms of tackling capacity issues on our railways as well as addressing regional inequalities. So the line must be completed in full.
“We also say loud and clear that our railways have to be built right – for habitats and wildlife, for local transport users, for affected neighbours and for government coffers. Greens will not support blank cheques or offer uncritical endorsement.
“We need to move at great speed to shift travel away from cars and flights to public transport. HS2, in full, can play an important role in achieving this shift.”
The vote passed with 345 for and 318 against.
This isn’t unique to the Green Party, pretty much all the major parties have internal divisions. Take the recent Labour stuff where the socialists have butted heads with technocratic front bench over the two child benefit cap. The Greens are different in that they don’t whip their MPs or Cllrs, as they believe they should be free to vote with their conscience, which has the major disadvantage of making the party line muddy and hard to count on.