Defer HS2

If Scotland wants independence, it should pay for the link to Glasgow from the northernmost English town that England chooses HS2 reach

My home town of Lowestoft is 120 NE of London and takes 3:45 hours by train, always with a change at Ipswich or Norwich. It used to be a 2 hours direct service until some nincompoop in the 1990s decided to reduce the Lowestoft line from dual to single track. So when I heard that Glasgow, nearly 3 times as far, would get a 3:30 hours service with HS2, I thought “Why isn’t a small slice of the billions HS2 will cost for the few being spent on services for the many?”

Indeed, with Telepresence already an excellent conferencing tool, the technology will have advanced much further by the time HS2 is built. That will reduce hugely the numbers of business travellers using the service, making HS2 almost obsolete when it is finished.

Upsetting the Scots, Cameron has suggested the Scottish referendum should be a simple “Independence Yes or No?” question held much sooner than Salmond wants, which is 2014. If Scotland wants independence, it should pay for the link to Glasgow from the northernmost English town that England chooses HS2 reach. Therefore, HS2 should be deferred until after the Scots have decided whether they want independence or not. Meanwhile, effort should be concentrated on improving English rail services first.

I have put some of these views to my MP and asked her why England is not having a referendum on whether it wants Scotland in the Union or not? It takes 2 to tango and both countries need to be asked.

Rob Farman, Walthamstow

Next letter: Matter of language