Esther McVey challenged Boris Johnson over HS2's value

Esther McVey of the Conservative Party, who has served Tatton since 2017, posed a question during the PM’s Questions as to whether they would consider ditching HS2 in favour of high-speed broadband.

She asked: “When High Speed 2 was first proposed the estimated cost was £37.5billion, the latest estimated cost is now over £150bn and rising fastly.

“Is there a price that the Prime Minister would accept that High Speed 2 is no longer value for money, or is he determined to build it irrespective of whatever the final cost will be?

“Wouldn’t it be better to put this white elephant project out of its misery, get rid of High Speed 2 and instead deliver high-speed broadband? Reliable one gigabit capability at a fraction of the cost to every household which would be much more useful for everyone in all our communities.”

The PM responded citing their roll-out of broadband while disagreeing about her thoughts on HS2.

“My right honourable friend is absolutely right about the importance of gigabit broadband, that’s why the coverage has gone up just since I have been Prime Minister I think from nine per cent of our country to 60 per cent this year,” he responded.

“We hope to get up to 100 per cent in the course of the next few years.

“I can’t agree with her however about HS2, this house did vote for it. It has the potential to do a massive amount of good in levelling up across the whole of the UK.”

McVey added, outside of the PM's Questions, her dismay with HS2 and called for a more updated use of the money.

“HS2 was dreamt up in 2004 and will not be delivered until 2040 it will be out of date before it is completed. Things have changed and the way people can work has moved on and so Government policy and priorities need to reflect those changes.

“Scrap HS2 and invest in digital technology to help generations to come. This pandemic has shown how important connectivity is in all areas of our lives. HS2 is a huge waste of money.”