Nigel Farage: 'Skint' Britain cannot afford HS2 He added: "Why is it that Ukip takes a stance against the other parties on virtually everything? Perhaps because we have a bit more common sense than they do, perhaps because we recognise that the country's skint and we simply can't afford to spend £50 billion on a project that will only benefit a small percentage of travelling customers in this country. The alternative would be upgrading the lines. The Government has vowed to "press ahead" with HS2 after winning a key legal victory in the Supreme Court this week. The court unanimously dismissed accusations by objectors that the Government was "cutting corners" to push the project through Parliament, in breach of European environmental laws. Opponents, including a number of local authorities along the route and action groups and residents' associations which object to the link, are now planning to take their case to Europe, threatening more delays. Mr Farage said HS2 remained an "enormous" concern in Amersham, before claiming Ukip was "bullish" and "optimistic" about their prospects for May's European elections. "We really think that these European elections give people an opportunity to express their views about something that they've been denied a say on for far too long," he said. Ben Ruse, a spokesman for HS2, said: "With the return on investment, jobs, business opportunities, skills and training HS2 presents, it is very much a case of 'can we afford not to'. It simply isn't a case of 'make do and mend'.