Tories are spinning like tops over Labour conference HS2 resolution
Conservatives are spewing nonsense because they seem not to understand the way Keir Starmer’s Labour Party is run.
Starmer is on the record as having said he could not commit Labour to reversing Rishi Sunak’s decision to cancel construction of the Birmingham-to-Manchester leg of the HS2 high-speed railway line because “they’ve taken a wrecking ball to it”.
He said the government was “already talking about releasing the land that would have been needed” to take the line to Manchester.
This is important because…
Sunak has ALREADY authorised the sale of properties acquired in preparation for HS2.
This means the decision on HS2 cannot be reversed by a future government.
How the HELL can he be allowed to do this without even putting it to the House?https://t.co/fYcfQZt9qL— Anne Greensmith 💙 (@snowleopardess) October 5, 2023
Concerns have been raised that Tory profiteers might pick up the land for a song and then sell it on for a huge profit, but apparently there is a reason this should not happen:
Thankfully, this. He can authorise all he likes, doesn’t mean that the original owner or their successor have to give him a fast response. They would have to buy back at current market rates, maybe not possible, but that doesn’t stop them killing the process to a crawl.
— Matt (@matt_saunders_) October 6, 2023
So, no backhanders for Tory friends (for a change). Also suggested is that Starmer could buy the land back with compulsory purchase orders (CPOs):
If I was Keir Starmer I'd head Sunak's firesale off at the pass. I'd say, 'Any land sold on the HS2 route can be re-bought under compulsory purchase order at the price it was sold at'.
Make it too risky to buy
— Siob, Princess of Yorkshire #FBPE #FBR (@Sillyshib) October 5, 2023
In fact, current legislation means it would have to be bought at the current market price on the date the sale happens.
So it would be possible to get the land back, even if it is sold off by the current government.
That means it is not unreasonable for delegates at the Labour Party Conference to vote for the party to reaffirm its commitment to build HS2 in full – as they have done.
This is what has set the Tories crowing.
This would mean Labour cancelling the £36bn of transport projects across the country that we can now fund from redirecting resources from HS2…and finding even more money besides.
This would mean more borrowing, more debt and more inflation under Labour. https://t.co/znhOhmQndA
— Mark Harper (@Mark_J_Harper) October 9, 2023
But they don’t understand the way Labour works under the Starmer dictatorship.
Conference votes are no longer sovereign – they do not automatically become policy points that must be included in the party manifesto.
Instead, Keir Starmer’s leading clique decides whether to include such vote results or not.
So Mark Harper’s claim of more borrowing, more debt and more inflation under Labour is wrong and he should have kept his fingers away from his ‘X’ account.
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