The majority benefit of HS2 is significantly improved freight and passenger services throughput nationally which allows intercity lines to run many more trains in Birmingham.
The government knows this but completely missold it to the public.
I know that is what they're aiming for, but the point is that I'm disagreeing with the goal of prioritising transport to/from London because it actively encourages further centralisation, which keeps driving the need for even more upgrades while at the same time driving up the cost of doing them.
The government knows this but completely missold it to the public.