Lord Adonis takes on HS2 director role

Labour peer Andrew Adonis has been appointed by the Government to help oversee the building of the High Speed Rail 2 link. Adonis accepted an offer from the Conservatives to take a non-executive director role on HS2 Ltd, the company funded by the government charged with managing the project.

Former Transport Secretary Adonis has been a long-term advocate of HS2, and is known for his interest in infrastructure policy. He will carry on his role as a Labour’s infrastructure spokesperson in the House of Lords, although in an article in this morning’s Times he says that he has taken on the new role as HS2 “deserves cross-party support”. He also praises Tory Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin for being a “powerful advocate” of the programme.

In the piece, Lord Adonis stresses that extending high speed rail will reap benefits for the UK economy:

“What is really crucial is what HS2 will mean for our economy. Cities are the engines of economic growth and this project will make the journeys between them quicker, more reliable and better for business.

This is a vital project of national significance and it deserves cross-party support.”

However, he also showed some understanding of the criticism that HS2 has received, writing that it’s “much harder to stick by long-term projects that cost money now but will not deliver benefits for years”.