Sunak refuses a dozen times to say if HS2
Manchester leg will be scrapped
PM remains tight-lipped about rail project’s future
and says his focus is on potholes and local buses
Aubrey
Allegretti Senior political correspondent
@breeallegretti
Thu 28 Sep
2023 09.58 BST
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/sep/28/rishi-sunak-refuses-say-hs2-northern-leg-scrapped
Rishi Sunak
has refused a dozen times to say whether the Birmingham to Manchester leg of
HS2 will be scrapped, but said doing so would not be a betrayal of the north of
England.
Despite two
weeks of uncertainty over the remainder of the project, the prime minister
remained tight-lipped about its future in a series of BBC local radio
interviews spanning stations from the West Midlands to Teesside.
Sunak
repeatedly tried to pivot away from the subject, when pressed about whether
phase 2 of the rail line would be pared back.
He is
understood to have raised significant concerns about HS2’s cost, but faced a
barrage of lobbying from Tory former prime ministers and chancellors to push
ahead with the plan to level up the country and deliver improvements to rail
capacity.
Asked to
provide certainty on HS2’s future by BBC Radio Manchester’s Anna Jameson, Sunak
said: “I’m not speculating on future things.”
He also
told her that “the vast majority of the journeys that people make are in their
cars”.
Sunak
deflected questions about phase 2 of HS2 by saying there were “already spades
in the ground” to build the first phase – between Birmingham and Old Oak
Common, a station several miles from central London.
He said the
government was focused on improving other transport issues such as potholes and
local bus routes in rural areas.
Asked by
Joanita Musisi on BBC Radio York whether scrapping the northern leg of HS2
would be a betrayal of the north of England, Sunak said: “No. I think what
people will see … is we’re investing record amounts in improving infrastructure
but also improving levelling up.”
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