Transport Secretary says HS2 is litany of failure and accepts all review recommendations

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander says she will accept all recommendations from the James Stewart review to address years of mismanagement and restore public trust in HS2. In a statement to Parliament, the Secretary of State condemned the ‘litany of failure’ that has plagued the project, citing spiralling costs, ineffective oversight and broken promises.

Commissioned by the government in October last year, the Stewart Review sets out evidence of the historic mishandling of HS2 including a lack of ministerial oversight and scrutiny, inadequate control of the project by HS2 Ltd and a lack of effective incentives with the supply chain, which will collectively cost the taxpayer billions more than planned.

Without action, Phase 1 alone risks becoming one of the most expensive railway lines in the world – with costs ballooning by £37 billion and £2 billion wasted on cancelled Phase 2 works.

Addressing the House of Commons, the Transport Secretary explained that since entering office, the government has taken decisive action to get back control of HS2 including: appointing new leadership to reset the project, commissioning the James Stewart review, reducing financial delegations to HS2 Ltd, limiting what the company can do without government approval to place a lid on spiralling costs until the reset is complete and providing £25 billion in the recent Spending Review to support all of this work.

The review’s five key recommendations are:

• Lack of effective ministerial oversight – the HS2 taskforce has been re-established with full senior official and ministerial attendance, offering much-needed oversight and accountability.

• Stricter cost control – the department is ensuring HS2 Ltd and its suppliers negotiate incentives that ensure cost savings for taxpayers.

• Lack of capability, skills and trust – the Chief Executive of HS2 Ltd, Mark Wild, is instilling a new era of leadership, reforming the organisation with a focus on building the rest of the railway safely and at the lowest reasonable cost. Wild has previous experience in this, having turned the delayed and over-budget Elizabeth line into one of the most successful and celebrated new operating railways in the world.

• Lack of clarity on Euston station – the government has already committed funding to start the tunnelling from Old Oak Common to Euston and further detail on delivery of the station will be set out in due course.

• Lessons for the wider transport portfolio – the government is committing to learning the lessons of the past 15 years to delivering infrastructure differently across its projects, with more to be set out in the upcoming 10-Year Infrastructure Strategy.

The Prime Minister has asked the Cabinet Secretary to consider the implications for the Civil Service and wider public sector of the issues raised in the report, including whether further action or investigation is warranted.

The Transport Secretary also confirmed that Mike Brown will be taking over as HS2 Chair, working alongside CEO Mark Wild to deliver a programme reset, including reviewing the costs and schedule, renegotiating HS2’s large construction contracts and reviewing HS2 skills and structure. The Transport Secretary has asked Mark Wild to be ready to provide an update on revised costs and delivery timescales at the end of the year.

Mike Brown brings decades of experience to the role, having previously delivered major projects such as the successful delivery of London Underground and mainline rail for the Olympic and Paralympic Games in 2012, and a multi-billion pound investment programme on London’s roads, rail and cycling network.

Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said, “This must be a line in the sand. This government is delivering HS2 from Birmingham to London after years of mismanagement, flawed reporting and ineffective oversight. Passengers and taxpayers deserve new railways the country can be proud of and the work to get HS2 back on track is firmly underway.”

The initial assessment of the CEO, Mark Wild appointed in December 2024, was also published, reiterating that the overall project in terms of cost, schedule and scope is unsustainable. Due to the scale of the mismanagement of the project, it set out that there is no route by which trains can be running by 2033 as previously planned and warns that costs would continue to increase if not taken in hand

Read Mark Wild’s letter to the Transport Secretary