HS2 protest costs taxpayer £49m in additional security measures

The costs of protecting workers form harassment from totalled an eye watering £49m, an MP has revealed.
Andrew StephensonAndrew Stephenson
Andrew Stephenson

Andrew Stephenson revealed in Parliament earlier this week that the taxpayer was footing an enormous bill because of protestors against the HS2 line.

He was appointed Minister of State at the Department for Transport on 13 February 2020.

He currently has responsibility for HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail.

He said:

"The costs for construction sites to operate safely, including, where necessary, the safe removal of trespassers, form part of existing contracts between HS2 Ltd and its supply chain.

"Due to the levels of protestor activity experienced, an additional £49 million of security costs across the HS2 project has been expended up to December 2020.

"The impact to the schedule of trespassers and in some cases concerted vandalism has not yet been fully assessed but we expect this to be within the overall estimated cost range of the project."

This was an answer to a question posed by Bucks MP Dame Cheryl Gillan who asked:

"To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what the cost is of the (a) policing of and (b) damage and delays to the works caused by the environmental protests along the route of Phase 1 of HS2 to date."