"We are straight talking people in the north, so yes or no"
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak endured a bruising interview on BBC Radio Manchester after it was revealed that the government intends to effectively scrap HS2, doing away with one of the biggest ‘levelling up’ projects in the country.
Sunak was asked repeatedly what was happening with the project and whether it would be completed in full. It’s understood that the northern leg of the high speed line from Birmingham to Manchester is likely to be axed amid concern over costs.
BBC Radio Manchester presenter Anna Jameson told Sunak: “There’s been a lot of rumour, a lot of speculation. Let’s end this right here, right now.
“Tell the people in Greater Manchester are you scrapping the HS2 line between Birmingham and Manchester?”
Sunak replied: “I know there’s a lot of speculation on this but we’ve already got spades in the ground on the first bit of HS2.
“But what I would say is HS2 is just one of the many things we are doing to level up across our country and it’s one of the many things we’re doing to invest in in the north and in transport infrastructure in the north.
“And if you look right now we’re providing record sums to Greater Manchester in particular so that they can improve the transport in and around the city.”
But Jameson told him: “We are going off topic here and I just want to keep it focused on HS2 because we are straight talking people in the north, so yes or no – are you scrapping the HS2 line between Birmingham and Manchester?”
Sunak chose to dodge the question once more, simply saying: “Like I said, I’m not speculating on future things.
“We’ve got spades in the ground right now and we’re getting on, but what the government is always making sure that we get value for money out of everything we do.”
Sunak has faced growing criticism over his decision to scrap HS2, with former Tory Chancellor George Osborne as well as Tory grandee Michael Heseltine criticising the plans.
“How could [you] ever again claim to be levelling up when you cancel the biggest levelling-up project in the country?”, the pair wrote in a joint oped last week.
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
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