High-speed rail debate breaks out into class war as North/South divide flares up

In recent weeks media scrutiny of high-speed rail issues has focused on the extent to which an HSR network will help to narrow the economic gap between northern and southern England and whether opponents to HSR in the south are nothing more than NIMBYs.

The latest battle in the increasingly vituperative war between proponents of a high-speed rail network and those opposed to the concept kicked off on June 20 when The Daily Telegraph and several other papers gave significant coverage to the launch of a new poster campaign by one of the lobby groups in favour of HSR. “Tipping his bowler hat and leering with barely concealed contempt, the toff is out of central casting,” the paper said, describing a figure in one of the new posters, which are built around the slogan ‘Their lawns or our jobs?’

“The group [Campaign for High Speed Rail]… has resurrected the class divide in a poster campaign aimed at pressing the case for the Government’s flagship project,” The Telegraph added. “The message is about as subtle as the adverts that painted a sepia image of northern towns with cobbled streets where everyone wore cloth caps and – if they were lucky – clogs. But with feelings running high on the route earmarked for the £33bn project, the pro-high speed campaign has turned to political attack adverts, more commonly seen at election time.”

More than NIMBYs

The Telegraph then devoted a significant amount of space to quotes from campaigners opposed to HS2. “It is incredible that they use images of the wealthy in this way when they are the very people the scheme is for,” one said. “It is a fast train for fat cats. They are trying to maintain this charade that it is southern NIMBYs against northern growth, it is absolutely ridiculous. It only benefits you if you go to the airport and nothing else, it benefits the richest in society and nobody else… The only people supporting this are train spotters, big business and greedy politicians.”

Regional paper The Bucks Free Press, which has been strongly opposed to HS2 since the details of the London to Birmingham route were first announced, began its coverage of the posters’ launch by quoting a local councillor who described their content as “desperate stuff”. The paper did also, however, politely refer to the Campaign for High Speed Rail lobby group as “an independent body of civil society group alongside businesses and the leaderships of the main northern cities” and quoted David Begg, the director of the group, as saying, “High-speed rail represents opportunity. Opportunity for business people to reach new markets, quickly, cheaply and with minimal hassle. Opportunities for bread-winners to reach new employers.”

Online commentators on the Bucks Free Press website were rather less balanced than the paper itself, however, being overwhelmingly and vehemently opposed to HSR. One, for example, alleged, rather weirdly, that: “David Begg is a desperate man with a huge investment in tunnelling equipment currently redundant, which is why the routing will demand, owing to resistance, so much tunnelling.”

Talking of David Begg… the transport magazine that he publishes, Transport Times (motto ‘The independent voice of transport’) featured a double page spread on high-speed rail in its June edition. This consisted of a full page of ads for the ‘Yes to High-Speed Rail campaign’, including the two now notorious ‘toff’ posters, plus a page of editorial promoting the alleged benefits of HSR and even a form that readers could cut out and send to the DfT.

A looming crisis

Transport secretary Philip Hammond then joined the war of words in an interview with The Financial Times on June 24. “Philip Hammond compares opponents of his cherished high-speed rail scheme to the Luddites who fought against the arrival of the Victorian railways in the 19th century,” The FT began. “Pro-HS2 advertising, which went up this week, presents the row as a choice between northern jobs and southern lawns. Mr Hammond endorses this view of the protesters as NIMBYs, remarking that most of them live in Warwickshire and the Chilterns, through which the route will pass.

“The understated Mr Hammond is considered a safe pair of hands in the cabinet, but neutralising opposition to the project will test even his unflappability,” the paper then suggested. “The transport secretary has the energetic backing of David Cameron… However, dissent is brewing among some Tory backbenchers whose constituencies lie along the route, as well as the rightwing TaxPayers’ Alliance, which argues that the scheme does not offer value for money.”

In a separate article, meanwhile, the paper also noted that: “Critics of the [HS2] scheme have suggested that the money could be better spent on other, smaller transport schemes rather than the high-speed rail link. They have also cast doubt on whether the scheme will genuinely rebalance the North-South divide in the way that its advocates suggest.”

The notion that a high-speed rail network will do little to narrow the North-South divide doesn’t seem to be cutting much ice in north of England-based media, however. The Guardian’s ‘The Northerner’ blog, for example, was strongly supportive of a new campaign to bring high-speed rail to Yorkshire. “The campaigners are stepping up their activity to stop protesters in the south scuppering the project as they object to the route of the first phase of the network, from London to Birmingham,” it said. “A new website… shows how the planned high-speed link will support the creation of new jobs and encourage companies to locate and invest in the Leeds City Region.”

Leeds-born commentator Andrew Rawnsley then devoted a lengthy column on the North-South divide in The Observer on June 26. Although very little of the piece was about transport, Rawnsley did note that: “Some of the cabinet do appreciate that the North-South divide hurts the country’s economic performance… He [Philip Hammond] was defending – against much southern dissent in his own party – the construction of the high-speed rail link between London and points north.

“I’m a fan of high-speed rail,” The Observer columnist went on. “But too much expectation is being invested in one very long-term infrastructure project… In the here and now, the north feels the fight for future prosperity is unfair with the rules rigged by a coalition that appears to favour its chums in the south.”

The political aspects of HSR were then debated at length by The Independent on Sunday. “David Cameron is pinning his hopes of an outright victory at the next General Election by pushing ahead with a controversial high-speed rail project,” the paper said. “Ministers are convinced the expensive rail link will give Tories the breakthrough in northern cities that they need to gain a majority.

“The PM is risking the wrath of the Home Counties, where 14 Tory constituencies with rock-solid majorities are affected by the building of the £33bn line,” The IoS added. “Ministers believe that the economic boom it will bring to Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds outweighs keeping the Conservative heartland happy, whereas axeing the scheme could cost them the northern target seats they narrowly failed to secure in 2010.

“In Birmingham… there are at least ten seats that are Tory targets or were only narrowly won by a Conservative in May last year,” the paper said. “Under Government plans, the line will eventually split and link Birmingham to Leeds and Manchester. At least seven seats in and around Leeds are firmly in the Tories’ sights and in Manchester the Tories are desperate to make inroads and believe HS2 is the most high-profile way of brandishing their ‘northern’ credentials.”