Call for rail bosses to “come clean” about job creation.

A local MP has claimed that HS2’s plans to create thousands of jobs at a marshalling yard in East Birmingham have been shown as false in a committee hearing at the House of Commons this morning.

HS2’s counsel was cross-examining Hodge Hill’s MP, Liam Byrne who was giving evidence to the committee arguing that the marshalling yard should be built outside the city.

HS2’s team then presented evidence admitting that the plan to site the marshalling yard at Washwood Heath, which is proposed to cover the size of 100 football pitches which currently makes up one-third of the industrial land in Birmingham, will create nearly 2,000 fewer jobs – under pressure from Mr Byrne they admitted that they had not factored in the loss of 1,300 jobs from businesses already on site who will be forced to re-locate.

Commenting on the news, Liam Byrne said: “HS2’s jobs argument has collapsed this morning. They have been forced to admit that their evidence to parliament was at best a half-truth, and at worst, completely misleading. Even the government now admits that we could create an extra 4,000 jobs in Hodge Hill in the short term.

“It’s time HS2 now gets serious about giving east Birmingham a boost and not a battering. We’re fighting for jobs – they should be with us and not against us. They should certainly come clean to parliament about the costs of their plan to jobs, lost taxes and lost business rates to the city. The phoney war is now over. It’s time for HS2 to get round the table and give us a better plan.”