Government confirms HS2 eastern leg scrapped as business leaders react with anger

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has confirmed the eastern leg of HS2, which had been planned to go through the East Midlands from Birmingham, and onto Leeds, has been scrapped.

Speaking in the House of Commons this morning – 18 November – Shapps said “a rethink is necessary” because the original HS2 plans would “take decades to deliver”.

Shapps and the Prime Minister had last year committed to delivering the HS2 line through the East Midlands and up to Leeds – the so-called Phase 2b of the project.

In his statement to the Commons, the Transport Secretary announced a £96bn investment plan that would see three new high speed rail routes introduced: from Crewe to Manchester; from Birmingham to the East Midlands Parkway station; and from Warrington to Manchester to West Yorkshire.

He said Northern Powerhouse Rail will connect Leeds and Manchester in 33 minutes, down from 55 minutes now.

And he noted that under earlier plans, smaller towns on existing main lines such as Doncaster, Grantham, Huddersfield, Wakefield, and Leicester would have seen little improvement, and in some cases even their services cut back.

Shapps said the Integrated Rail Plan (IRP) will protect and improve these links and will deliver improvements with less disruption to local communities.

On both local train lines and inter-city links, the Government says rail passengers will benefit from tangible changes, seeing more seats, shorter journeys, and more frequent and more reliable services.

As well as the new high-speed lines, the IRP fully electrifies and upgrades two diesel main lines – the Midlands Main Line and the Trans Pennine Main Line – as well as upgrading a third main line – the East Coast – with higher speeds, power improvements and digital signalling to slash journey times.

£200m of immediate funding will be allocated to plan and start building a mass transit system for Leeds and West Yorkshire, while separately the Government has raised the prospect of halving journey times between Bradford and Leeds to as short as 12 minutes.

However, the decision to axe the eastern leg of HS2 has provoked a largely frustrated response this morning.

Sir Roger Marsh, chairman of the business voice for the North NP11 group of Northern Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), and of the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership, said: “Naturally I’m disappointed our communities will not now benefit from the once-in-a-generation opportunity that Northern Powerhouse Rail and HS2 in full represented.

“Historic underinvestment in transport has held back the North’s potential for decades, costing UK plc hundreds of billions of pounds of lost economic output while levelling down living standards.

“While the Integrated Rail Plan does confirm some welcome investment in several parts of the North, this will not deliver the transformational boost to rail capacity and connectivity that these two major schemes offered.

“It is true the North needs to see transport investment now, not just in 20 years’ time.

“However, our position has always been clear that to truly level up the North and deliver the economic growth we can and want to achieve, we need the full package of local, regional and pan-northern investment that successive governments have promised.”

Northern Powerhouse Partnership director, Henri Murison, said: “The Integrated Rail Plan is a huge moment for the North, and the announcement of the new line from Warrington through Manchester to Marsden, as well as the confirmation of HS2 in the west coming to Manchester and Manchester Airport, is welcome.

“However, the lack of a full new line across the Pennines will dramatically reduce the capacity and potential for rapid economic growth, in particular in the cities of Leeds and Bradford.

“What Northern leaders had proposed was an economically transformational vision. What we have is, as ever, second class.

“The complete failure to deliver the Eastern leg of HS2 in the North is a major blow – another review is not what the North has consistently and coherently called for.

“We will continue to fight for HS2 in the North, which needs to be a phased project starting with a brand new line from Leeds to Clayton, alongside the immediate electrification of the conventional line between Leeds and Sheffield.

“In addition, the lack of commitment to the Leamside Line means the benefits of Northern Powerhouse Rail to the North East are significantly constrained – this must be delivered to ensure the whole of the North benefits from rail investment.”

Louise Haigh, MP for Sheffield Heeley, said: “The Prime Minister has once again shown people across the North of England that they do not matter to him or his government.

“When he was elected Prime Minister, Boris Johnson said he wanted Northern Powerhouse Rail to do for the North what Crossrail did for London. This is another in a long line of broken promises by this Prime Minister to the people of the North.

“Growth and jobs are being held back here because we are not well connected with other cities. It is utterly ridiculous the fourth largest city in the UK does not have a direct connection to an airport.”

Beckie Hart, CBI Yorkshire & Humber director, said: “High quality infrastructure is fundamental to rising living standards and levelling up the country.

“The Integrated Rail Plan is a significant investment that will go some way towards modernising our ageing rail networks and can be delivered at pace.

“But businesses across the Midlands and Northern England will be justifiably disappointed to see the goalposts have moved at the eleventh hour, and concerned some of the areas most sorely in need of development will lose out as a result of the scaled back plans.”

Jeff Pearey, head of real estate advisors JLL in Yorkshire and the North East, added: “Following the budget last month, the scrapping of Northern Powerhouse Rail and the eastern leg of HS2 only serves to further undermine the government’s manifesto pledge to level up the regions.

“Despite some concessions for the North within the plan, a step-change in inter-city connectivity cannot be achieved without laying significant new line to take the pressure off local ones.

“While physical connectivity is a key engine of regional prosperity, we shouldn’t view it as a panacea.

“Much has been achieved by devolved local governments in the seven years since Northern Powerhouse Rail was first mooted, and I suspect today will do little to derail the high levels of investment in innovation, regeneration and digital connectivity that will be central to improved productivity and future growth.”