High Speed 2 (HS2) Support

The three major UK political parties: Conservative, Labour (albeit with some criticism of the proposed route) and the Liberal Democrats.    Greengauge 21, a not-for-profit research company which focuses on investigating high-speed rail technology,    The Campaign for HSR along with a number of other Councils in the north and North Midlands including Liverpool, Newcastle, Nottingham, and Sheffield City Councils; both Glasgow and Edinburgh City Councils in Scotland and Cardiff and Swansea in Wales. The campaign group, which is led by Professor David Begg, aims to canvas support from businesses across the UK to promote the case for the proposed high-speed rail link. The campaign currently has support from over 400 UK businesses.    Go-HS2, a group comprising Centro, Birmingham City Council, Birmingham Chamber of Commerce, Birmingham Airport and the NEC Group. The objective of the group is to promote the benefits that its members believe HS2 will bring to Birmingham and the West Midlands.
    HS2 is also supported by the wider Passenger Transport Executives Group (PTEG) representing six such bodies.    The Scottish Government is generally supportive of the HS2 project and has been engaged in discussions with the UK Government about the development of a Scottish high-speed rail link connecting to London and continental Europe, with the aim of reducing journey times to London from Scotland to under 3 hours.    Support for the project has also been expressed by both the North East Chamber of Commerce and the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce. Support has been confirmed by local authorities in the North of England such as Manchester and Leeds City Councils    In January 2012 Hammersmith and Fulham Council reaffirmed its support for the project. The council's cabinet member for strategy was reported as saying "HS2 is the fastest way to deliver much-needed new homes, jobs and opportunities in one of London's poorest areas.