After weeks of what the Conservative party insisted was mere speculation, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak finally killed off the extension of the HS2 high-speed rail network from Birmingham to Manchester, pledging to use “every single penny” of the £36bn of savings on other transport schemes across the north and Midlands.
He announced a new package of measures titled Network North that will fund projects to speed up east-west rail links across the north of England. He also pledged money to extend the West Midlands Metro and for a tram system for Leeds, as well as £3.3bn to fix northern potholes. “As a result of the decision we're taking today, every region outside of London will receive the same or more government investment than they would have done under HS2 with quicker results,” he said.
However, scrapping HS2 is seen as a blow to the government’s “levelling-up agenda” to strengthen economic activity in the North and the Midlands. Labour’s mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, and council leader Bev Craig wrote to Sunak ahead of the announcement arguing that the north of England “should not have to pay for the government’s mismanagement of the HS2 budget”.