The government is set to axe the HS2 leg to Manchester, according to reports.
The Conservative Government has in the last few days refused to deny it was considering axing the Birmingham to Manchester leg. Reports have since emerged in the Times last night that yet another northern section of the long-awaited rail project will be chopped.
The plans have been slammed by former Conservative Prime Ministers, however. Boris Johnson said suggestions the Manchester route could be chopped over cost concerns were “desperate” and “Treasury-driven nonsense” as he urged Rishi Sunak to deliver on the 2019 levelling-up pledge the Conservatives were elected on.
Ministers have looked to sidestep questions about the future of the Manchester destination this week and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said on Thursday that HS2’s budget was “getting totally out of control”.
Mr Sunak has refused to guarantee it will reach Manchester despite £2.3 billion having already been ploughed into stage two of the national line. A photograph of a leaked document, published by The Independent, suggested curtailing the route could save £35 billion.
The planned railway — announced by the last Labour government but backed by successive Tory administrations — is intended to link London, the Midlands and the North of England but has been plagued by delays and rising costs.
A budget of £55.7 billion for the whole of HS2 was set in 2015 but some reports suggest the bill has surpassed £100 billion, having been driven up by recent inflation.
Ministers have already moved to pause parts of the project and even axed sections in the north. The eastern leg between Birmingham and Leeds was reduced to a spur line which is due to end in the East Midlands.
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