Cheryl Gillan [Image from the Bucks Free Press].

A Buckinghamshire MP has called for the controversial HS2 project to be scrapped amid the news that Carillion – which was awarded a major construction contract – has collapsed.

Dame Cheryl Gillan, MP for Chesham and Amersham, said plans for the £56 billion line – which will cut through The Chilterns – should be cancelled amid the liquidation of the construction giant Carillion.

During a statement by the minister for the cabinet office and fellow Bucks MP, David Lidington, in the House of Commons on Monday, Dame Cheryl said she warned against the risks to the taxpayer from the company back in July 2017.

When HS2 awarded the contract to Carillion last year, she asked that the Secretary of State for Transport confirm that he had “carried out due diligence on those companies, and that the taxpayer is not in reality carrying unacceptable risks on the construction of HS2.”

She said: “On July 17, I brought the Secretary of State for Transport to this House for 10 o’clock at night to answer the questions I raised about HS2 contractors, and the unacceptable risks to the taxpayer that included Carillion. Unfortunately, those words seem to have come true.”

Urging Mr Lidington to reconsider the project, Dame Cheryl requested that, as he was looking into the effects of Carillion’s collapse on those constituencies in which they had contracts to provide other services, “could he also look at the other failures of HS2, and management, and Government, and wouldn’t he, as well as his constituents, as well as my constituents, and maybe, Mr Speaker, some of your constituents, feel that now is the time to cancel this ill-fated, poorly-run project?”

Source: MP Dame Cheryl Gillan calls for HS2 to be scrapped amid Carillion collapse

Vox Political needs your help!
If you want to support this site
(but don’t want to give your money to advertisers)
you can make a one-off donation here:

Here are four ways to be sure you’re among the first to know what’s going on.

1) Register with us by clicking on ‘Subscribe’ (in the left margin). You can then receive notifications of every new article that is posted here.

2) Follow VP on Twitter @VoxPolitical

3) Like the Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/VoxPolitical/

Join the Vox Political Facebook page.

4) You could even make Vox Political your homepage at http://voxpoliticalonline.com

And do share with your family and friends – so they don’t miss out!

If you have appreciated this article, don’t forget to share it using the buttons at the bottom of this page. Politics is about everybody – so let’s try to get everybody involved!

Buy Vox Political books so we can continue
fighting for the facts.

The Livingstone Presumption is now available
in either print or eBook format here:

Health Warning: Government! is now available
in either print or eBook format here:

The first collection, Strong Words and Hard Times,
is still available in either print or eBook format here: