Sunak confirms cancellation of Northern leg of HS2

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Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has confirmed in his Conservative Party Conference speech that the Northern leg of HS2, which would have connected Birmingham with Manchester, has been cancelled. 

Speculation about whether the high-speed line would make it to Manchester has been rife for weeks. 

The Independent recently reported that ministers were considering shelving the Northern phase amid concerns about increasing costs and severe delays. It said a cost estimate it had seen revealed that the government has already spent £2.3 billion on stage two of the railway from Birmingham to Manchester. Scrapping this phase, however, could save up to £34 billion. 

Then, on Monday (2 October), Sky News announced the rumour that the Northern leg would be scrapped minutes before Chancellor Jeremy Hunt took to the stage at the Conservative Party Conference. Shortly after, a government spokesperson told The Planner: “The HS2 project is already well under way with spades in the ground, and our focus remains on delivering it.” 

On Wednesday (4 October), the prime minister told the conference that getting infrastructure right was key to driving growth. 

However, he said projects are “driven by cities at the exclusion of everywhere else”. He argued that, with costs doubling, the economic case had been “massively weakened with the changes to business travel” after the Covid-19 pandemic. 

The facts, he said, “have changed”. 

“The right thing to do when the facts change is to change direction,” he declared. “I am cancelling the rest of the HS2 project.” 

Although the line to Manchester will not go ahead, the route to Birmingham will begin at Euston, travelling via Old Oak Common in West London to the West Midlands. There had been speculation that it would start at Old Oak Common. 

He assured the Mayor of the West Midlands Andy Street – a supporter of the high-speed project to Manchester and someone Sunak said he has “huge admiration and respect for” – that there will be more capacity between Manchester and Birmingham. 

The government’s focus will instead be on Network North. This is intended to “join up our great towns and cities in the North and the Midlands”. 

“Every single penny” saved from the cancellation of HS2’s Northern leg will be spent on hundreds of new transport projects in these areas. 

A development company, separate from HS2 Ltd, will be appointed to manage the delivery of the Euston project. 

Bradford will get a new station, meaning faster travel to Bradford, Sheffield, and Hull “on a fully… electrified line”, vowed Sunak. 

A £12 billion scheme to link Manchester and Liverpool will continue as planned, a Midlands Rail Hub to connect 50 stations will be delivered, and Leeds will get a tram. The A1, A2, A5 and the M6 will also be upgraded. 

“My stance will be attacked,” he said. “But there is nothing ambitious about simply pouring more money into the wrong project.” 

It would be an “absurd reason to continue: an abdication of leadership”, he added. 

“I challenge anyone to tell me with a straight face that all of that isn’t what the North really needs,” said the prime minister. 

Update – 5/10/2023  

Private investment to secure HS2 to Euston?  

According to the Network North prospectus, the government will take “on the lessons of success stories such as Battersea Power Station and Nine Elms, which secured £9 billion of private sector investment and thousands of homes” in delivering HS2 between Old Oak Common and Euston. 

It states: “We will harness the future growth that the station will unleash to support its development, to ensure we get the best possible value for the British taxpayer – and ensure that funding is underpinned by contributions from those people and businesses its development supports. At the same time, we are considerably upping the ambition of the Euston redevelopment, where we will be looking to establish a development corporation to create a transformed ‘Euston Quarter’ – potentially offering up to 10,000 homes. 

“This will accelerate the project, significantly reduce and focus its scope, and leverage private sector investment in the process.” 

Scotland, said a statement on the Department for Transport website, will see investment to address the pinch points on the A75 between Gretna and Stranraer. This intends to provide better links between the Cairnryan ferry terminals serving Northern Ireland and southwest Scotland.   

Also, £1 billion will be invested in bringing parts of North Wales within an hour of Manchester through a “major upgrade” of the North Wales Main Line, including electrification.  

More information can be found here.  

4 October 2023 
Laura Edgar, The Planner