Stop work on HS2 immediately and hold a new vote to repeal the legislation
This petition gathered 155,253 signatures between 17 December 2020 and 17 June 2021, according to the Parliament petitions site. The Government responded on 14 January 2021. MPs debated it in Westminster Hall on 13 September 2021.
The petition
The petition's creator is not named in the Petitions site's published record. Quoted in full from the UK Parliament petitions site.
Stop work on HS2 immediately and hold a new vote to repeal the legislation
We ask Parliament to repeal the High Speed Rail Bills, 2016 and 2019, as MPs voted on misleading environmental, financial and timetable information provided by the Dept of Transport and HS2 Ltd. It fails to address the conditions of the Paris Accord and costs have risen from £56bn to over £100bn.
Our environment and economy are in peril. HS2 is destroying nature and inflicting suffering on businesses and property owners. Government is investing in an inept and recklessly run project, offering poor value for money. HS2 will not reach Net Zero by 2050 nor help us level up the North. The pandemic has changed how we work forever and invalidated the business case. Given the climate emergencies we face, and now the economic and pandemic crises - Parliament must vote to repeal the legislation.
The Government's response
The Government published its response on 14 January 2021; the petitions site lists the Department for Transport as responsible. Its summary:
HS2 will provide essential North-South connectivity, greater capacity and shorter journey times. This railway will play a vital role in delivering the Government’s carbon net zero objectives.
The opening 400 words of the 710-word response:
The Government has carefully considered the merits and disadvantages of proceeding with HS2 and has firmly concluded that it should go ahead. HS2 will transform our country’s transport network, and help to rebalance opportunity fairly across the country. This railway is a long-term investment which will bring our biggest cities closer together, boost productivity and provide a low-carbon alternative to cars and planes for many decades to come. During construction, we want HS2 to be the most environmentally responsible major infrastructure project in UK history.
HS2 has rightly been subject to a great deal of Parliamentary and public scrutiny. Phase One was the subject of considerable debate in Parliament during the passage of the High-Speed Rail (London-West Midlands) Act 2017 (“the Phase One Act”). The Phase 2a Bill is currently being taken through Parliament. The Government agreed with the Oakervee Review's conclusion that splitting Phase 2b into smaller sections, and more than one Bill, could facilitate scrutiny in Parliament, and make its management and construction more manageable. Just this month, Andrew Stephenson MP, the dedicated HS2 minister, went before the Transport Select Committee to discuss HS2 in depth, and a record of this hearing can be found on Parliament.UK.
Ministers have made a clear commitment to greater transparency on HS2, and Andrew Stephenson is reporting bi-annually to Parliament on the project.
We are continuing work on managing the full impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on delivery of the HS2 programme. We intend to update Parliament on the latest position as part of the next six-monthly Parliamentary Report, expected in Spring 2021.
This Government takes its environmental commitments extremely seriously. The environmental impacts of HS2 were closely scrutinised by Parliament during the passage of the Phase One Act, which gives statutory and planning authority for the construction of Phase One. Alongside the Act, the Government also published a suite of additional environmental commitments to further reduce the impacts of the project.
As well as environmental protections, a range of measures to mitigate and compensate for environmental impacts have been put in place. This includes a commitment to seek to achieve ‘no net loss’ to biodiversity and the creation of a ‘green corridor’ alongside HS2, which will provide bigger and better habitats for wildlife, and integrate HS2 into the landscape. Phase One expects to support 33 square kilometres of wildlife habitat - an increase of around 30% compared to what’s there now.
Read the full response on the petitions site.
Where the signatures came from
Signatures came from 650 constituencies on the boundaries used until the 2024 general election. The largest number, 3,890, came from Chesham and Amersham.
154,237 of the signatures were from the UK and 1,016 from elsewhere, by the location signers gave.
| Constituency | Signatures |
|---|---|
| Chesham and Amersham | 3,890 |
| Aylesbury | 3,000 |
| Buckingham | 2,971 |
| Kenilworth and Southam | 2,493 |
| Lichfield | 1,194 |
| Warwick and Leamington | 1,188 |
| Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner | 1,152 |
| Tatton | 1,146 |
| South Northamptonshire | 1,070 |
| South West Hertfordshire | 1,020 |
| Region | Signatures |
|---|---|
| South East | 33,449 |
| South West | 19,672 |
| West Midlands | 18,750 |
| North West | 14,125 |
| East of England | 13,773 |
| East Midlands | 12,554 |
| London | 12,381 |
| Yorkshire and The Humber | 11,443 |
| Wales | 6,479 |
| Scotland | 5,158 |
| North East | 3,146 |
| Northern Ireland | 523 |
Debate in Parliament
MPs debated the petition in Westminster Hall on 13 September 2021. Read the debate in Hansard. House of Commons Library debate pack.
Source and receipt
- https://petition.parliament.uk/archived/petitions/563380.jsonUK Parliament Petitions API · read 2026-10-15 · SHA-256
d0856e8b7782c648… - The petition on petition.parliament.uk
The petition's words are its creator's and the response is the Government's; this site quotes both and gives no view on either. Signature counts can still change while a petition is open. To report an error, send a correction request.