My opposition to HS2 is not a nimby reaction. I am more concerned about the vast cost to the taxpayer of something which we do not need.
As an MEP for the East Midlands, I live in Northampton and the first stage of HS2, London to Birmingham, will pass through the southern part of Northants. The claim that it will shave 33 minutes off the London/Birmingham time is an illusion.
In writing to the secretary of state I pointed out that currently the fastest train, Euston to Birmingham, takes 82 minutes but stops 3 times. Non-stop that would be around 76 minutes taking you right into Birmingham at New Street Station. HS2 will go to a new station 10 minutes away from there. So the claimed journey of 49 minutes to Birmingham by HS2 becomes effectively 59 minutes; £30 billion for a total saving of only 17 minutes against a non-stop on existing track.
It is claimed for HS2 that we must compete with Europe with its High Speed Trains. Distances there are much greater, so they need to compete with us and travel between their capitals and other cities more quickly. A map on the French TGV network website (equivalent to HS2) includes the UK up to just north of Birmingham. It shows that Paris to Brest is nearly 3 times further than London/Birmingham, Bordeaux is further still, and Toulouse is a good 4 times further.
So a London businessman using current services will get to Birmingham quicker than his Paris counterpart getting to Bordeaux or Toulouse.
In response to my letters the Secretary of State said that HS2 is to be part of a network extending to Manchester and Leeds. True, but the material promoting HS2 concentrates on the claimed time from London to Birmingham, hence my comments. He did not respond to my observations that in fact the claimed saving of 49 minutes London to Birmingham is only actually 17 minutes.
Much is made of HS2 being non-stop but you don't have to be a fast train not to stop at intermediate stations. You can do that with existing trains, they used to be called an "Express". A frequent express service from Euston to Birmingham would need a re-jig of the existing track; widening the permanent way and re-building bridges, just like extending motorways. Even with advanced signalling that would come at far less cost than a completely new rail line.
The Secretary of State said that High Speed Rail is used on the continent over comparatively short distances. Nevertheless the map of the French TGV system clearly shows that the longer inter-city routes came first and the short distances later, many yet to be completed. So the distances from London outwards must be compared with similar continental routes.
I am convinced that HS2 is an unnecessary expense. We should use this money to up-grade existing track to run express non-stop services between major cities.
Tuesday 20 September 2011
Monday 19 September 2011
Strasbourg Commentary Plenary Session 12 - 15 Sept 2011 Wednesday. Not much in the way of votes this week to get excited about. Mind you, we are to vote on Libya tomorrow. But today we had a treat, a debate on,- "The Economic Crisis and the Euro", This was led by Barroso, "we must implement the principles we adopted in July. National Governments must explain the benefits of the Euro! He employed the usual terms; Solidarity, Act Together, Climate Change....and to solidify the Euro we must deepen integration. We need more Europe, not less.... On Euro Bonds the ECB will introduce options all within the treaties, although there will be some need for Treaty Changes (but Lisbon is self-amending). Other speakers agreed with Barroso in the main; need single Vision, its either each for himself or All together. It was a mistake to introduce the Euro without pan Europe Fiscal Government, separate economies ruin it. We need Economic Government, A Euro Bond market, Growth & Jobs Pact and a Stability pact, with the Commission in charge! The common theme was that this must all be done by the Commission, no room for the elected MEPs of course. Apparently, the markets look for weaknesses and exploit them,- well some one has woken up. And then a ray of light from the ECR speaker who promoted Greek devaluation and asked, in the context of the impending Greek default, "Whose funereal am I attending, theirs or ours?" And then came Nigel who said that European Economic Governance was,- "A plane lands at Athens airport out of which get an official from the Commission, an official from the ECB and an official from the appalling IMF. Those three people, the Troika you call them, go in, meet the Greek Government and tell the Greek Government what they may or may not do. You have killed Democracy in Greece. You have three part-time overseas dictators now telling the Greek people what they can and cannot do. It is totally unacceptable..... I have one last plea Mr Barroso, will you please help Greece. Help her to get her currency back, help her to reschedule her debts, help her to get out of the mess you have put her into. Your policies have failed, stand up, be a man, admit it. " (Full speech on Video, party web site, & UKIP MEP's web site.) And so to voting followed by the most disgraceful episode imaginable. It had been planned for Tuesday to hold a minute's silence for the victims of the dreadful massacre in Norway. Quite right too. But it was held over to the Wednesday voting session when the President of the Parliament, Jerzy Buzak, made some opening remarks, all in order if too long, but never did I imagine what a dreadful, crass error was to follow. Each group, its leader or a nominee, was then invited to make remarks. The Socialist leader, Robert Schulz, made it political, emphasising that the murdered youngsters were all young socialists attending a Party event. This was endorsed by the left leaning groups who added comments like, Xenophobia, attack on our society etc etc. while Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Green co-chairman, even used the occasion to attack Le Pen for what he is alleged to have said about the massacre. Only the ECR speaker avoided political comment and, of course, our EFD speaker, co-chairman Francesco Speroni, who spoke briefly in measured tones, in just the right kind of way. Worse followed after the one minute silence. A German Socialist MEP, Robert Goebbels, rose to denounce Nigel as an Anti- European bigot who, while being in the building, preferred to be absent for this, rather than join all the democrats. Nigel had indeed left the chamber during votes precisely to avoid what he knew was coming. I confess to being stunned, Francesco Speroni tried to rise in answer but was denied by the President. I found it too difficult to stay there and left before voting had ended. As a result I missed the sequel, but picked it up on the Parliament recordings. Le Pen rose to answer Cohn-Bendit and insults were then hurled across the assembly with accusations of paedophilia. All this at what should have been a solemn occasion. Be in no doubt, if ever you were, that we are under constant attack by those who profess to have embraced democracy but who, in fact, no nothing of it. Worse, they have no sense of decency or decorum, or of putting differences aside in the name of something bigger than all of us. It will get worse. The President of Parliament only serves two and a half years of the five year mandate and a new one is then elected. This election is a farce. The EPP are the biggest group, the Socialists next so they do a deal. They all vote for the EPP nominee for the fist half of the mandate, and all for the Socialist for the second half. Its a racing certainty that this will bring us Robert Schulz for the second half, starting in January. There is nothing left to say. Derek Clark MEP
News from Strasbourg
Strasbourg Commentary Plenary Session 12 - 15 Sept 2011
Wednesday. Not much in the way of votes this week to get excited about.
Mind you, we are to vote on Libya tomorrow. But today we had a treat, a
debate on,-
"The Economic Crisis and the Euro",
This was led by Barroso, "we must implement the principles we adopted in
July. National Governments must explain the benefits of the Euro! He
employed the usual terms; Solidarity, Act Together, Climate Change....and
to solidify the Euro we must deepen integration. We need more Europe, not
less....
On Euro Bonds the ECB will introduce options all within the treaties,
although there will be some need for Treaty Changes (but Lisbon is
self-amending).
Other speakers agreed with Barroso in the main; need single Vision, its
either each for himself or All together. It was a mistake to introduce the
Euro without pan Europe Fiscal Government, separate economies ruin it. We
need Economic Government, A Euro Bond market, Growth & Jobs Pact and a
Stability pact, with the Commission in charge!
The common theme was that this must all be done by the Commission, no room
for the elected MEPs of course. Apparently, the markets look for
weaknesses and exploit them,- well some one has woken up. And then a ray
of light from the ECR speaker who promoted Greek devaluation and asked, in
the context of the impending Greek default, "Whose funereal am I
attending, theirs or ours?"
And then came Nigel who said that European Economic Governance was,-
"A plane lands at Athens airport out of which get an official from the
Commission, an official from the ECB and an official from the appalling
IMF. Those three people, the Troika you call them, go in, meet the Greek
Government and tell the Greek Government what they may or may not do. You
have killed Democracy in Greece. You have three part-time overseas
dictators now telling the Greek people what they can and cannot do. It is
totally unacceptable.....
I have one last plea Mr Barroso, will you please help Greece. Help her to
get her currency back, help her to reschedule her debts, help her to get
out of the mess you have put her into. Your policies have failed, stand
up, be a man, admit it. "
(Full speech on Video, party web site, & UKIP MEP's web site.)
And so to voting followed by the most disgraceful episode imaginable.
It had been planned for Tuesday to hold a minute's silence for the victims
of the dreadful massacre in Norway. Quite right too. But it was held over
to the Wednesday voting session when the President of the Parliament,
Jerzy Buzak, made some opening remarks, all in order if too long, but
never did I imagine what a dreadful, crass error was to follow. Each
group, its leader or a nominee, was then invited to make remarks.
The Socialist leader, Robert Schulz, made it political, emphasising that
the murdered youngsters were all young socialists attending a Party event.
This was endorsed by the left leaning groups who added comments like,
Xenophobia, attack on our society etc etc. while Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Green
co-chairman, even used the occasion to attack Le Pen for what he is
alleged to have said about the massacre. Only the ECR speaker avoided
political comment and, of course, our EFD speaker, co-chairman Francesco
Speroni, who spoke briefly in measured tones, in just the right kind of
way.
Worse followed after the one minute silence. A German Socialist MEP,
Robert Goebbels, rose to denounce Nigel as an Anti- European bigot who,
while being in the building, preferred to be absent for this, rather than
join all the democrats. Nigel had indeed left the chamber during votes
precisely to avoid what he knew was coming.
I confess to being stunned, Francesco Speroni tried to rise in answer but
was denied by the President.
I found it too difficult to stay there and left before voting had ended.
As a result I missed the sequel, but picked it up on the Parliament
recordings. Le Pen rose to answer Cohn-Bendit and insults were then hurled
across the assembly with accusations of paedophilia. All this at what
should have been a solemn occasion.
Be in no doubt, if ever you were, that we are under constant attack by
those who profess to have embraced democracy but who, in fact, no nothing
of it. Worse, they have no sense of decency or decorum, or of putting
differences aside in the name of something bigger than all of us.
It will get worse. The President of Parliament only serves two and a half
years of the five year mandate and a new one is then elected. This
election is a farce. The EPP are the biggest group, the Socialists next so
they do a deal. They all vote for the EPP nominee for the fist half of the
mandate, and all for the Socialist for the second half. Its a racing
certainty that this will bring us Robert Schulz for the second half,
starting in January.
There is nothing left to say.
Derek Clark MEP Strasbourg,
Wednesday. Not much in the way of votes this week to get excited about.
Mind you, we are to vote on Libya tomorrow. But today we had a treat, a
debate on,-
"The Economic Crisis and the Euro",
This was led by Barroso, "we must implement the principles we adopted in
July. National Governments must explain the benefits of the Euro! He
employed the usual terms; Solidarity, Act Together, Climate Change....and
to solidify the Euro we must deepen integration. We need more Europe, not
less....
On Euro Bonds the ECB will introduce options all within the treaties,
although there will be some need for Treaty Changes (but Lisbon is
self-amending).
Other speakers agreed with Barroso in the main; need single Vision, its
either each for himself or All together. It was a mistake to introduce the
Euro without pan Europe Fiscal Government, separate economies ruin it. We
need Economic Government, A Euro Bond market, Growth & Jobs Pact and a
Stability pact, with the Commission in charge!
The common theme was that this must all be done by the Commission, no room
for the elected MEPs of course. Apparently, the markets look for
weaknesses and exploit them,- well some one has woken up. And then a ray
of light from the ECR speaker who promoted Greek devaluation and asked, in
the context of the impending Greek default, "Whose funereal am I
attending, theirs or ours?"
And then came Nigel who said that European Economic Governance was,-
"A plane lands at Athens airport out of which get an official from the
Commission, an official from the ECB and an official from the appalling
IMF. Those three people, the Troika you call them, go in, meet the Greek
Government and tell the Greek Government what they may or may not do. You
have killed Democracy in Greece. You have three part-time overseas
dictators now telling the Greek people what they can and cannot do. It is
totally unacceptable.....
I have one last plea Mr Barroso, will you please help Greece. Help her to
get her currency back, help her to reschedule her debts, help her to get
out of the mess you have put her into. Your policies have failed, stand
up, be a man, admit it. "
(Full speech on Video, party web site, & UKIP MEP's web site.)
And so to voting followed by the most disgraceful episode imaginable.
It had been planned for Tuesday to hold a minute's silence for the victims
of the dreadful massacre in Norway. Quite right too. But it was held over
to the Wednesday voting session when the President of the Parliament,
Jerzy Buzak, made some opening remarks, all in order if too long, but
never did I imagine what a dreadful, crass error was to follow. Each
group, its leader or a nominee, was then invited to make remarks.
The Socialist leader, Robert Schulz, made it political, emphasising that
the murdered youngsters were all young socialists attending a Party event.
This was endorsed by the left leaning groups who added comments like,
Xenophobia, attack on our society etc etc. while Daniel Cohn-Bendit, Green
co-chairman, even used the occasion to attack Le Pen for what he is
alleged to have said about the massacre. Only the ECR speaker avoided
political comment and, of course, our EFD speaker, co-chairman Francesco
Speroni, who spoke briefly in measured tones, in just the right kind of
way.
Worse followed after the one minute silence. A German Socialist MEP,
Robert Goebbels, rose to denounce Nigel as an Anti- European bigot who,
while being in the building, preferred to be absent for this, rather than
join all the democrats. Nigel had indeed left the chamber during votes
precisely to avoid what he knew was coming.
I confess to being stunned, Francesco Speroni tried to rise in answer but
was denied by the President.
I found it too difficult to stay there and left before voting had ended.
As a result I missed the sequel, but picked it up on the Parliament
recordings. Le Pen rose to answer Cohn-Bendit and insults were then hurled
across the assembly with accusations of paedophilia. All this at what
should have been a solemn occasion.
Be in no doubt, if ever you were, that we are under constant attack by
those who profess to have embraced democracy but who, in fact, no nothing
of it. Worse, they have no sense of decency or decorum, or of putting
differences aside in the name of something bigger than all of us.
It will get worse. The President of Parliament only serves two and a half
years of the five year mandate and a new one is then elected. This
election is a farce. The EPP are the biggest group, the Socialists next so
they do a deal. They all vote for the EPP nominee for the fist half of the
mandate, and all for the Socialist for the second half. Its a racing
certainty that this will bring us Robert Schulz for the second half,
starting in January.
There is nothing left to say.
Derek Clark MEP Strasbourg,
Monday 5 September 2011
Details of my last speech in July - more to follow
Debate; COELHO; Agency for the management of large-scale IT systems in the area of freedom, security & justice.
Yet another expensive, bureaucratic monster arises by combining VIS, SIS and Eurodac, whether or not any member state currently participates in these agencies.
It is meant to develop Schengen which itself is under pressure due to the Libyan situation. What is the use of a system to allow free movement which has to be partially suspended because of the free movement it encourages?
I understand there will be a central agency to retain finger prints and biometric records for five years, including material obtained under SIS; "information regarding certain categories of persons and property".
So, under the guise of facilitating the free movement of people we have a resurrection of the Stasi.
Of course this is intended to lead to EU immigration control. For the UK many immigrants come from the commonwealth, a voluntary association including every single one of our former colonies. Well, we have our own border controls for that purpose and the EU does not have the right to interfere.
Yet another expensive, bureaucratic monster arises by combining VIS, SIS and Eurodac, whether or not any member state currently participates in these agencies.
It is meant to develop Schengen which itself is under pressure due to the Libyan situation. What is the use of a system to allow free movement which has to be partially suspended because of the free movement it encourages?
I understand there will be a central agency to retain finger prints and biometric records for five years, including material obtained under SIS; "information regarding certain categories of persons and property".
So, under the guise of facilitating the free movement of people we have a resurrection of the Stasi.
Of course this is intended to lead to EU immigration control. For the UK many immigrants come from the commonwealth, a voluntary association including every single one of our former colonies. Well, we have our own border controls for that purpose and the EU does not have the right to interfere.
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