"Levelling up? My a***": Andy Burnham's reaction to reports Manchester leg of HS2 could be scrapped
manchestereveningnews.co.ukAndy Burnham today accused the Government of making the North pay for its failure to properly manage HS2 after it emerged Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is considering scrapping the Manchester leg of the controversial high speed rail project.
The Independent reports today that Mr Sunak and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt are in discussions about abandoning the second stage of HS2 connecting Birmingham and Manchester as costs spiral amid severe delays. Read more: HS2 rated ‘unachievable’ by major projects body A cost estimate, seen by the website's Policy Correspondent Jon Stone, 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.
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, reports The Independent.
The project has already been cut back north of Birmingham, with a planned eastern spur to be built to Leeds now set to stop in the East Midlands.
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