Grant Shapps delays decision over HS2 rail line
Tory MPs urge prime minister to deliver project as transport secretary asks for more data
Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, has cast further doubt on whether the government will go ahead with the HS2 rail line by stressing the problem was about capacity rather than speed and making clear he was examining alternatives.
Confirming a final decision would be made in February, Shapps said it was essential to get the facts right before embarking on “maybe the biggest infrastructure project, certainly in Europe, and the biggest this country’s ever taken, certainly in peacetime”.