The Chancellor Jeremy Hunt and the Prime Minister Rishi Sunak are in talks over shelving the second stage of HS2 according to reports
A cost estimate, seen by The Independent, reveals that the government has already spent £2.3bn on stage two of the high-speed railway from Birmingham to Manchester but shelving the northern phase would save up to £34bn.
According to the report “The documents, discussed at a meeting at No 10 on Tuesday headlined “chancellor and prime minister bilat”, suggest the £2.3bn is now not recoverable even if it is cancelled.
The paper says it understands talks are ongoing.
Responding to the report Greater Manchester’s Mayor Andy Burnham tweeted
“It’s coming up 10 years since Osborne’s “Northern Powerhouse” speech and the Tories are set to scrap the last of his rail pledges.The result?
The southern half of England gets a modern rail system and the North left with Victorian infrastructure.
Levelling up?
My a**e.”
A Prime Minister’s spokesman asked numerous times whether the government was committed to the route, said that spades are already in the ground on our HS2 programme and we’re focused on delivering it.” However he wouldn’t promise the line would reach Manchester.
