Passionate HS2 critic appointed as transport adviser by Boris Johnson
Boris Johnson has appointed ardent HS2 critic Andrew Gilligan to be a transport adviser in his new Government.
This is not the first time Boris Johnson and Andrew Gilligan have worked together, as Andrew was previously Boris Johnson's 'cycling tsar' when he was the mayor of London.
He has written a series of editorials in the past against HS2, and is said to be strongly against the High Speed Rail project.
Writing in the Telegraph in 2010, Gilligan said: “Virtually every argument you will hear for high-speed rail, today and in the months of argument to come, is either based on deeply shaky assumptions, or is just plain wrong.
“This line will not be green. It will not greatly benefit the economy. And, most remarkably of all, it will probably make your journey slower, not faster.”
Boris Johnson has previously been critical of HS2, and the project is set to go under the microscope later this year in a spending review.
Last week HS2 chairperson Allan Cook wrote to the Department for Transport that the project could not be delivered within it's initial £55.7bn budget.