HS2 investigating two firms supplying staff for West Midlands leg
The company building the HS2 rail line between London and Birmingham says it is investigating "allegations" about the practices of some "labour suppliers" to the project.HS2 Ltd is looking into two firms supplying workers to build the West Midlands section of the high-speed line.It is understood to relate to billing for the staff supplied. The Department for Transport said it would ensure "any claims of wrongdoing in HS2's supply chain" were "thoroughly" dealt with.
The existence of HS2's investigation, which began earlier this year was first reported by the i newspaper on Monday.According to the paper, the matter relates to misclassification of staff and claims that inflated rates were being charged for them.It is understood the two firms being looked at were providing workers to Balfour Beatty Vinci, one of HS2's contractors. A HS2 spokesperson said it treated "all whistleblower allegations seriously", adding that Balfour Beatty Vinci "had implemented additional monitoring and controls".It is understood one of the labour suppliers remains suspended from new contracts while inquiries continue. A Department for Transport spokesman said the government and HS2 "take all whistleblower allegations extremely seriously and have a zero-tolerance attitude towards fraud, bribery, and corruption"."We will therefore ensure any claims of wrongdoing in HS2's supply chain are thoroughly investigated."The police and HMRC are not believed to be involved.
Work is currently under way to build the nearly 140-mile high-speed line between London and the West Midlands.The HS2 project was announced in 2009 to boost capacity on England's north-south rail links, aiming to reduce journey times, create jobs and boost the UK economy.The original plan was to build the line in two phases - with the first connecting London and Birmingham and the second adding two branches to Manchester and Leeds. But the project has suffered various setbacks and spiralling costs since it was announced and the decision was taken by the last Conservative government to scrap the second phase. The Labour government has said it will not reinstate it.Much of the work London-Birmingham section has been completed - with more than 75% of tunnelling complete, according to HS2 Ltd.Separately, the mayors of Greater Manchester and the West Midlands have revealed plans for a new rail line linking their regions which would rely on private investment and cost less than the scrapped northern leg of HS2.
Official estimates of how much HS2 will cost have changed several times over the years.Last October, the government announced that ministers would take a direct role in overseeing the building of the line to try to "get a grip" on rising costs.The government previously said costs had soared because of factors including "poor project management, inflation and poor performance from the supply chain".In 2012 it was estimated that HS2 Phase 1 (London to Birmingham) would cost £20.5bn (at 2019 prices). The government's most recent estimate of the overall cost is between £45bn and £54bn at 2019 prices - but HS2 management have estimated the figure to be more like £49bn to £57bn.According to a House of Commons research briefing, cost increases have been driven "by high inflation, as well as scope changes, worse ground conditions than expected and optimism bias".
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
16 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Labour's 'war-ready' plans will be blown apart by Nato's demand for 3.5% spending on defence and cause £40billion funding shortfall... and tax hikes might be the only way to plug the gap
Voters were warned last night to brace for further tax rises after Nato spending demands blew a £40billion hole in Labour 's plans. Nato chief Mark Rutte has told Keir Starmer and other leaders that the alliance later this month will raise its minimum spending target from 2 per cent of GDP to 3.5 per cent by 2035 to deter Russia 's Vladimir Putin and placate US President Donald Trump. Military sources said it would be 'unthinkable' for Britain to refuse the demand given its leading role in Nato. But experts claimed the bill could eventually run to £40billion a year – the same amount raised by Chancellor Rachel Reeves in her controversial Budget last year and equal to 5p on the basic rate of income tax. Defence Secretary John Healey refused to rule out tax increases to help fund the push to move Britain to a position of 'war-fighting readiness' but said ministers would 'set out how we'll pay for future increases in the future'. The Prime Minister has committed to raising defence spending from 2.3 per cent of GDP to 2.5 per cent by 2027. And he has said the Government will move to 3 per cent at some point in the early 2030s 'subject to economic and fiscal conditions'. But he repeatedly refused to set an 'arbitrary date' for meeting it or set out how it would be funded. Sir Keir was holding emergency talks with advisers in Downing Street about how to respond to the demand. He said this week there were 'discussions about what the contribution should be going into the Nato conference'. This week's Strategic Defence Review said Britain must be ready 'to step up, to lead in Nato and take greater responsibility for our collective self-defence'. Whitehall sources cautioned the Nato target may not have to be met in full for a decade, although intermediate goals could be set along the way. The increased spending demand comes at a time when Ms Reeves is already struggling to meet her own fiscal rules and ministers are in retreat over welfare cuts. The Institute for Fiscal Studies warned 'chunky' tax rises would be needed even to hit 3 per cent spending on defence. Professor Malcolm Chalmers, of the Royal United Services Institute, claimed meeting 3.5 per cent by 2035 would cost an extra £40billion a year and said this was equivalent to raising overall income tax receipts 'by 10 per cent'. Former Army chief Lord Dannatt said: 'I would make the case that we have got to tighten our belt. And if we can't borrow more, which we can't, if we can't grow the economy, which we're struggling to, then we've got to put some taxes up.' Official figures show Labour's current plans would see spending on sickness benefits rise faster than that on defence. Despite planned cuts to disability benefits, spending on sickness and disability is forecast to rise from 2.4 per cent of GDP to 3.1 per cent by the end of the decade, reaching almost £100billion a year by 2030. Former Tory chancellor Jeremy Hunt said yesterday that welfare reform was the 'only way' to square the circle. Mr Rutte is expected to set the minimum defence spending target when Nato leaders gather in The Hague, Netherlands, on June 24. The target will be supplemented with an additional goal of spending 1.5 per cent on security- related activity, taking the total to the five per cent demanded by Mr Trump. But former Nato chief Lord Robertson warned that many countries would struggle if the aims are set too high. The Labour peer, who led the Government's review, said: 'I can see why Nato is giving targets but whether they are realisable is a different question altogether.'
BBC News
32 minutes ago
- BBC News
How Bazball's baby showed merit in England's thinking
England's Tuesday began stuck in was Jamie Smith who ensured there were no dangers of them grinding to a halt team that arrived at The Oval on e-bikes after traffic problems in London were powered to their victory by a freewheeling Smith, who followed a duck in Cardiff with an electric 64 from 28 balls to clinch a series clean sweep."I wanted to push out my chest a bit and say that I'm good enough to open the batting," Smith, 24, said after the seven-wicket the face of it, England's decision to employ Smith as an opener in this series is one straight from the playbook of out-of-the-box decisions made in the Brendon McCullum era of English Shoaib Bashir being called up for the Test side on the back of six first-class appearances was rogue, asking Smith to open the batting for a floundering 50-over side at the start of a new era - a position he has never batted in professional cricket - was not far behind. But in reality, despite regular 50-over openers Will Jacks or Tom Banton looking the frontrunners in the squad beforehand, Smith was always the obvious candidate - he is, after all, Bazball's favourite Foakes did little wrong in India in 2024 but by England's next Test, Smith had replaced 70 on debut and 95 in his third Test, the talk around Smith was glowing. When he made his maiden Test century a match later against Sri Lanka there were already suggestions he should take a job proving as troublesome to fill as the manager's role at Old Trafford - England's Test number Bethell's emergence has put that one on the backburner but when McCullum took over as England's white-ball coach last September it was no coincidence Smith was recalled to the set-up for the next Harry Brook revealed last week McCullum was talking about the possibility of Smith opening at the Champions Trophy in Pakistan - before incumbent Phil Salt had been shown the door."Me and Baz think Smudge could be an unbelievable white-ball opener," Brook said before the is no criticism but Brook has begun to sound like a jammed cassette when outlining his ideal batter since taking the Leeds to London, "we want batters that can put their best balls under pressure" he has said again and again - and could have hardly have done that better than he did in the third Surrey academy product received nine balls on a 'good length' under the lights at his cricketing home and scored 20 runs at a strike-rate north of 200. Across the match, his batting contemporaries managed 56 runs off 71 balls against such fascination with Smith comes with all of the caveats of his international career being only 24 matches old but with the knowledge that at his best he can seemingly do it this very ground against Sri Lanka last year he scored 15 from his first 31 deliveries in a Test before crashing 52 off his next 18. He has a technically solid defence and drives through the covers with ease. But he can also pick the ball off a length and deposit it over mid-wicket as he did on Tuesday."He's not a slogger, is he? He's playing proper shots," was how Brook put it also know the importance of an opening partnership if their rebirth after the troubles of Jos Buttler's final 18 months as captain is to be Morgan's World Cup-winning team had Buttler's fireworks, a match-winner in Ben Stokes and Joe Root's calmness but none of that would have been possible without Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow setting platforms that would have been too big for the Tests, England's best performances under McCullum captaincy - in Rawalpindi, at The Oval, or at Edgbaston - have all been built on significant opening Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley against the red ball, Duckett and Smith attack the white like they are playing different get technical, Duckett's average interception point against seamers is around 1.77m, 33cm behind Smith' right-hander Smith targets boundaries in front of him, left-hander Duckett has scored only 18% his career runs against pacers in the 'V'.And in McCullum, Smith has a coach who opened 107 times in ODIs and did so in a New Zealand side that reached a World Cup final - an ideal sounding board should one be one may expect with England's relaxed approach, however, Smith has largely been left to create his own plans during his first week in the job."He knows how to bat," Brook said."Like I said so many times, he's done it in Test cricket for periods. "He's gonna have a good go at it at the top in one-day cricket and I think everybody's excited to see how he goes."Brook knows there will be bumps to come but Smith will be given every chance to lead England on their ride.
The Independent
32 minutes ago
- The Independent
Record-breaking £199m EuroMillions jackpot rolls over to Friday
Friday's EuroMillions jackpot will be an estimated £208 million, after no player scooped Tuesday's top prize. The jackpot on Friday would be the largest prize the UK has seen, National Lottery operator Allwyn said. The winning EuroMillions numbers on Tuesday were 12, 15, 38, 47, 48. The Lucky Stars are 05, 07. Andy Carter, senior winners' adviser at Allwyn said: 'We are now on the verge of potentially creating the biggest National Lottery winner this country has ever seen – making a single UK winner instantly richer than the likes of Adele and Dua Lipa while also landing them at the number one spot on The National Lottery's biggest wins list.' An anonymous UK ticket holder won the existing record jackpot of £195 million on July 19 2022, while just two months earlier, Joe and Jess Thwaite, from Gloucester, won £184,262,899 with a Lucky Dip ticket for the draw on May 10 2022. The UK's third biggest win came after an anonymous ticket-holder scooped the £177 million jackpot in the draw on November 26 last year, while the biggest this year was £83 million in January. To win the jackpot, the ticket holder must match all five main numbers, plus the two lucky stars. Prizes are won for winning fewer numbers, including those matching two winning on average £2.72, and those matching four claiming £31.26 The odds of winning the jackpot are one in 139,838,160.
