Rishi Sunak promises more railways, roads and buses

The Prime Minister has pledged billions for transport projects across the country after canceling the northern leg of the HS2 high-speed rail line.

Rishi Sunak said in a speech at the Conservative Party conference that £36 billion would be spent on alternative rail, road and bus plans instead.

It came after it was confirmed that the Birmingham-Manchester fixture would be abandoned from HS2 after weeks of speculation.

He said that the decision was due to the high costs and long delays.

But it has led to accusations that the government is abandoning its mission to “level up” various areas of the UK outside London.

In his speech, Sunak said the government would “reinvest every penny” saved from scrapping the remainder of HS2, which he said totaled £36 billion.

“Every borough outside London will receive the same or more government investment than it would have under HS2, with faster results,” he said, although it is not clear when this money will be made available.

The aim of the high-speed rail project was to connect London, the Midlands and the north of England.

But the Prime Minister said in his speech on Wednesday that links between east and west were “far more important” than those between the north and south of England.

He said his plans would see funding for “hundreds” of alternative projects, such as:

He also said it would provide £12 billion to “better connect” Manchester and Liverpool – although this would not necessarily be through high-speed rail.

The Prime Minister said on Wednesday it would be possible to get from Manchester to Hull in 84 minutes on a fully electrified line under the new plans, known as the “Northern Network”. But it is not yet clear what the next few years will hold for the Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) project, which aims to improve connections between Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool.

The NPR was originally designed to interchange with HS2, using a section of the high-speed line for a complex section through central Manchester.

But Mr Sunak said changes to travel since the coronavirus pandemic meant the economic case for HS2 had been “significantly weakened”.

The first section of HS2 between west London and Birmingham, which is already being built, will be completed, given how long that section is.

The latest official estimate of HS2 costs, excluding the canceled eastern section, is around £71bn. But this was at 2019 prices, so it doesn’t take into account the rise in material and wage costs since then.

Promising to control costs, Mr Sunak said the HS2 rail line would now:

Lawrence Turner, head of research at the GMB Federation, said it was “essential” that HS2’s planned route is now protected “so that a future government can reverse this disastrous decision”.

Northern leaders also criticized the decision to cancel the HS2 motorway between Birmingham and Manchester, with Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham saying there was “frustration and anger” in the region.

“It always seems like people here where I live and where I represent kind of get treated like second-class citizens when it comes to transportation,” he said.

Liverpool businesses called for “viable plans” to support them after his speech on Wednesday.

Liverpool BID, which represents more than 800 city center businesses, said it had been presented with “no specific plans, no specific timetables and no promise of impact”.

The Prime Minister has also come under fire from a number of senior Conservatives in recent days, who have urged him not to cancel the northern section of the railway, saying cancellation would be a “huge tragedy” that would deter potential investors from migrating to the UK. .