It is hard to believe but we are shortly to approach the half-way point in this Parliament. It seems a very long time ago that the Coalition Agreement was negotiated and voted on at the Special Conference at the NEC in Birmingham. That document articulated several goals including deficit reduction and being the greenest government

John Hemming, Lib Dem MP for Birmingham Yardley, is an unabashed iconoclast. The Independent this week sought to understand what makes him tick a little better. Inevitably there is some focus on his private life — most notoriously brought to public attention by his estranged wife’s stealing of a kitten from his girlfriend’s house —

The HS2 link between London and Birmingham will do wonders for Britain, but why will it take til 2026 to build the thing?

Yesterday’s announcement about High Speed 2 was given more significance by the media than perhaps it deserved. The route of the track from Birmingham to Leeds and Manchester, and the sites for the stations on the northern lines, remains to be finalised. If all goes according to plan the first passangers could travel on the

Cost-benefit ratio for route from London to Birmingham has dropped from a gain of £1.60 for every £1 invested a year ago to £1.40

The announcement that High Speed 2, the fast rail route from London to Birmingham and beyond, is to be built with a station at Old Oak Common in Hammersmith and Fulham means the prospect of a Crossrail station at Kensal Gasworks in North Kensington is very much in doubt, say Labour Councillors. The site selected for the HS2 station, near Park Royal, will be a major new transport hub. This is not o...

Earlier today, the Government announced that it is still planning to go ahead with a new high-speed rail line that will reach Birmingham by 2026, and then be connected to Manchester and Leeds. And it's doing so in the face of widespread scepticism among the public and business leaders. When we at the TPA commissioned YouGov to test public support for different cuts in public spending, 48 per ...

The Transport Secretary Justine Greening says a new high-speed rail line between London and Birmingham will bring a wide range of benefit.

The first phase of a new high-speed rail line between London and Birmingham is expected to be given the go-ahead by the government later.

Tory MPs hostile to plans for a high-speed rail link from London to Birmingham are meeting on Monday to discuss strategy