Sunak confirms HS2 to be scrapped – hails new Network North

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has confirmed at his party’s conference this week that HS2 is to be scrapped.

“I am cancelling the rest of the HS2 project,” he said as the centrepiece of an hour long speech where he also pledged that “every single penny” of the budget for the line from Manchester to Birmingham would instead be spent on a new ‘Network North” that would fund “hundreds of transport projects that will make a difference across our nation”.

He mentioned by name a new station at Bradford within 30 minutes of Manchester, a metro tram system for Leeds and an electrification of an east west route from Manchester to Sheffield would cut journey times to 42 minutes.

He also said he would end “rip off degrees” and a new qualification to post 16 education, offering a requirement to study more subjects, including maths, and a parity of esteem between the technical and academic routes.

Katie Gallagher, MD of Manchester Digital and chair of the UKTCG, said: “We are saddened but not surprised that the Prime Minister has now confirmed that HS2 will not continue to Manchester as it was originally planned. This was a real opportunity to create modern high speed rail links, free up capacity on our creaking infrastructure and improve regional services across the North.

“The North of England is getting used to empty promises, plans being dropped and changed and more wasted public funds. The promised upgrades to the TransPennine route were delayed and altered, Northern Powerhouse rail was scaled back and the expansion of Piccadilly station in Manchester was cancelled.

“We are waiting for more details on this suddenly-announced Network North and have many questions. For example, is this a newly packaged Northern Powerhouse rail? It’s hard not to believe that Network North isn’t just another empty promise.”

Clare Hayward, Cheshire & Warrington LEP

Clare Hayward MBE, DL Interim Chair of the NP11 and Chair of Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership, said the cancellation will affect the confidence of investors, domestically and internationally, undermined the hopes and aspirations of people and businesses.

“Northern Powerhouse Rail and HS2 are designed to work in tandem, complementing one another and together they would deliver an unparalleled economic boost to the country.

“We will be looking very carefully at the details coming out of the Prime Minister’s announcement and are keen to meet and collaborate with Ministers to ensure that the UK can benefit from the untapped potential of the North.”

Paul Cherpeau, chief executive of Liverpool Chamber, slammed a “shambolic approach to levelling-up” and said business owners want to know that the government has a coherent plan to improve vital infrastructure: “they will want to hear a solid commitment from the government that it will actually deliver on these latest investment promises after so many false dawns.”

 Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce’s Director of Policy, Chris Fletcher, said: “This still has the feeling of a political concept rather than a practical solution. 

“Put bluntly we are fed up of broken promises, delays, cuts and hopes about finally getting what we need being dashed for political expediency. We will be watching closely and waiting on further details of what will be delivered and, more importantly, when.”

Trade union reaction was swift as Laurence Turner, GMB Head of Research and Policy, said: “Rishi Sunak’s decision to inflict the biggest rail cut since the Beeching axe will send a shockwave through the construction industry and railway supply chain, costing hundreds of jobs.

“The UK’s political instability was already holding the economy back – it will now be even harder to fund and deliver the new infrastructure that the country desperately needs.

“We can’t rebalance the economy or fix the railway capacity crisis without HS2. It’s essential that the planned route is now protected so that a future government can reverse this disastrous decision.”

Norman Baker, from the Campaign for Better Transport, attacked “this ragtag and bobtail selection of bits and pieces” and said Sunak’s announcement simply diverts money from a sustainable transport future into unsustainable and unchecked traffic growth. “We need more detail about what the transport projects that will replace the Northern leg of HS2 are and when they will actually be delivered. We also need to make sure that the PM is not double counting here as some of the schemes he mentioned have already been promised and are not new. What we do know is that ditching the Northern leg is not just a serious blow to the North of England and its people, but to the country as a whole.”

Paul Cherpeau

Paul Cherpeau, chief executive of Liverpool Chamber, said: “Businesses in the Liverpool City Region need certainty and connectivity to make investment decisions – the stop-start nature of the HS2 process and the shambolic approach to levelling-up has provided neither. A high-speed link between Birmingham and London certainly offers zero impetus to their ambitions.

“We are keen to hear more details of the newly-announced investment in the so-called Network North scheme and we welcome the news that the existing investment between Liverpool and Manchester is to be protected. While no infrastructure plan should be given a blank cheque, a city region the size of Liverpool requires a world class transport network to improve connectivity with all corners of the UK and beyond.”

He added: “Business owners want to know that the Government has a coherent plan to improve vital infrastructure that will directly support their businesses through the smoother movement of freight and people. Moreover, they will want to hear a solid commitment from the Government that it will actually deliver on these latest investment promises after so many false dawns.”

Martin McTague

Martin McTague, national chair of Blackpool-based Federation of Small Business, widely regarded as the voice of ‘white van man’, said: “Major multi-year, multi-government projects such as the Net Zero transition or HS2 require a long term, cross-party, multi-government approach, much like when the UK hosted the Olympic Games in 2012. This is the only way to cope with the UK’s four- or five-year electoral cycle, or at times when the Government changes more quickly.

“Improving east-west links across the North of England and the Midlands is absolutely vital, but so is connecting them into the national network, as would have happened by connecting Northern Powerhouse rail to HS2.

“The new or improved projects need to be assessed for benefits on capacity and connectivity for both passengers and freight, to set them against what has been lost from HS2 today. Ultimately, the responsibility is now on the Government to prove that these new decisions will deliver value for money for taxpayers and make life easier for small business.”

More reaction to follow…