Richard Tice, the MP for Boston and Skegness and the deputy leader of Reform UK, hit out at a major HS2 move that came to light late last year.
Mr Tice referred to the HS2 spending more than £100million on a “shed” to protect bats on a section of the line. The decision was taken even though, the project company’s chairman admitted last November, there is “no evidence that high-speed trains interfere with bats”.
As he took centre stage during his party’s rally in County Durham on Saturday, Mr Tice joked about the decision.
He said: “Now, some of you may like bats. I am not a great fan of bats myself but it doesn’t really matter.”
As the public started laughing, he launched a bidding war on how much the rally’s attendees would pay for a bat shed.
He then said: “Anyone wants to spend £1million on a bat shed? £10million? How about they spent £100m of your money on a concrete bat shed? It’s so ludicrous you’d think it’s April 1. But it’s true! On HS2 they are spending £100m on what I call the bat**** bat shed. You could not make this stuff up. The lack of accountability.”
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