Will the government's proposed large infrastructure projects be sufficient to lift Britain out of a second recession?

Readers' comments (26)

• DOUGLAS BEAZER | 2 May 2012 1:54 pm

  HS2
  In this time of savings trying to be made on energy, expenditure and time which eventually could be beneficial to everyone, surely the most economical form of transport must be the train. We have in the past had a very good national rail network which was in large torn apart by politicians for apparent economic reasons and now we are trying to in some way update our rail infrastructure. On aspect of this improvement is to make travel between population centres better which can be done in a variety of ways including speed, length of trains and frequency of services. I am sure we need linkage between north and south as much as east to west but everything seems to be centred on London. There is, I believe, a strong case for High Speed Rail going north and I support this in order that the larger part of the population can travel directly to Europe and beyond, without the requirement of stopping in London. I feel sure, from many of the comments which have been raised that much of the doubt and opposition for HS2 comes from peoples living in the area of the proposed line. Lines have in the past, been built and operated and we now accept them as part of the countryside, the same will become of HS2 as has happened with HS1 in Kent. In terms of expenditure the line should be planned now to go certainly to Leeds/Manchester and also to Edinburgh/Glasgow, infact I would agree with some schools of thought that construction should start from Scotland and the North as opposed to always starting projects in London. Some would argue that spending large amounts of money cannot be justified, but compared to the £16bn being spent on Crossrail and £6bn on Thameslink (again for London) other rail projects would benefit the larger population of the United Kingdom. I also feel that money should be spent on improving the rail network outside London, with its congestion and high charges, so that we are not so reliant on London being the hub of all our travel.
  
  Douglas Beazer

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• Anonymous | 23 May 2012 10:39 pm

  About the Nuclear Waste Deposit vote on cumbria. NIREX in the 1990's explored loads of boreholes and a White paper was leaked to the effect the area was unsuitable. Yet nearly a decade later another group turn up and try to do the same thing. Do they really want to spoil such a beautiful area as it is so close to the National Park not that far from Wasdale and Scafell. By heaven if the stuff leaked there would be all hell to pay.

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• Anonymous | 19 Jun 2012 1:36 pm

  How much could the ludicrously inflated costs of these infrastructure projects be reduced if the three million doing nothing on inflated public sector salaries followed by inflated public sector pensions were made to work at these projects ?

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• Steve Coley | 3 Jul 2012 2:56 pm

  Only one thing is absolutley obvious, an economy cannot be sustained by the financial sector only, it has to have a manufacturing base. There are people who are suited to office work and people who are suited to manual work. Get the banks to suport SME's and regen the car manufacturing industries in the UK. Every great economy builds automobiles. It is where we create new ideas and technologies and get the interest of kids leaving school. MP's!! It is not rocket sience to fix our economy it just needs the will and the ability to understand long term sustainable growth. The MP's would learn a lot from gardeners about long term sustainable growth.

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• Steve Coley | 3 Jul 2012 4:31 pm

  With regard to London being the hub of all our travel (HS2). The reason is simple the financial sector is there! All the money is there! All the high paid jobs are there even during a reccession!! All the power is there! Want to change it?? Well you can't not with-out investing in people and manufacturing.
  As we own RBS why did the government not give the bail out money only to RBS and insist that the money be used to promote growth and give low cost loans tied to growth and employment to SME's. Also if the governement is serious about growth and reducing the deficit and dole queues, they should reduce if not abolish corporation tax on companies with less than £2 million turn over. If they want a proviso, it can be that the company must employ extra people in order to qualify for the reduction or removal. This would then give the money directly to business and reduce the dole queues. Money in the governments hands does no good it needs to spent right and target those areas where it will do the most good successive governments have proved they do not have the knowlege or expertise required and all parties are as bad. I have been working all my life I have seen Labour and Conservatives alike tossing our lives between them like some demented clown juggling act. I have seen Liberals being liberal and sitting on the fence and siding with who ever gave the nearest manifesto to their agenda which is mostly untenable. Money when it is availble should go into new technology which is where the future is at. At fifty eight years old I still have a hunger for engineering and to see Great Britain's people do what they are good at.. inventing and making things...Ok rant over!!!

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• Dave | 3 Jul 2012 9:32 pm

  "Will the new high speed rail link still operate if there are leaves on the line?
  "
  
  No of course not they will be specially developed high speed leaves!!

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