Stephen Marcos Jones, CEO of the Association for Consultancy and Engineering (ACE), which represents the companies who design, deliver and manage our national infrastructure and built environment, comments on newly announced construction delays to HS2:

“Today’s news on HS2 is potentially a real body blow for the UK’s economic recovery. I think every sensible person knows that global events have driven inflationary pressures to record highs.

“But we have already spent significant sums on the design and delivery of this transformational major project. Scaling back ambitions at this stage will mean the economic and social benefits of HS2 for communities across the UK is further watered down – and major delays like this are actually going to cost more in the longer term.

“In a nutshell, the delays announced today are, quite simply, an absolutely false economy.”