Business and transport leaders call on Prime Minister not to cancel Manchester leg of HS2

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is facing growing calls from business and transport leaders in the North not to cancel the Manchester leg of HS2, amid growing rumours that he is considering axing part of the line to curb rising costs.

With the cost of the full route from London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly estimated to exceed to £100 billion, rumours have been circulating that the line will be reduced. Suggested new plans will see the high-speed rail line run only from Old Oak Common (around seven miles out of central London) to a new station in Birmingham, with the sections of the route to Crewe and on to Manchester Airport and Piccadilly, as well as an Eastern leg to the East Midlands and onwards to Leeds on existing lines, set to be mothballed.

The Eastern leg of the route has already been scaled back from the original plans, with trains using existing track rather than a purpose-built line between a new East Midlands Hub station and Leeds. In Manchester, plans for Piccadilly station have also been scaled down.

While no formal announcement to scale back the line further has been made, a number of business, transport and political leaders have urged the Prime Minister and the Chancellor to continue with the full HS2 route as planned.

In a letter to the Times, former Conservative chancellor George Osborne and former Deputy Prime Minister Michael Heseltine have described scaling back HS2 as an ‘act of huge economic self-harm’ and warned of the costs to communities that will lose both promised connections and thousands of jobs involved in constructions.

Manchester Airports Group have also issued a statement setting out their view that both HS2 and east-west Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) should be delivered in full. The Group said:

“The delivery of HS2 to Manchester will not only improve connectivity between the North and South of the UK, but will provide vital infrastructure for Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR).

 “NPR is the scheme that will transform the economic fortunes of the North by bringing all of its great towns and cities within each reach of each other, and the world via Manchester Airport. Without HS2, these benefits from NPR will not be delivered.”

Greater Manchester Mayor, Andy Burnham, has also written jointly to the Prime Minister with Leader of Manchester City Council, Cllr Bev Craig, to call for a meeting over HS2 plans before a final decision is made. He also proposed that, in the event of a delay to delivering the Manchester leg, work be started on the section between Piccadilly and Manchester Airport as this would have the greatest impact on local rail capacity and in making way for NPR. The letter reads:

“Whilst it is reasonable for any Government to want to ensure HS2 delivers value for money, and that prices do not escalate out of control, the North of England should not have to pay for the Government’s mismanagement of the HS2 budget.

“Our purpose in writing, first and foremost, is to ask you for the courtesy of a meeting before any final decision is taken. We believe we are owed that at the very least.

“If you were to agree to that, we would convey to you in the strongest possible terms that HS2 should not be scrapped. We believe the North of England needs new North-South and East-West rail infrastructure and should not be forced to choose between them in the same way that London hasn’t been forced such a choice. “

The full letter from Andy Burnham and Cllr Bev Craig has been published on the GMCA website.

Representing business interests in the city-region, Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce’s Policy Director, Chris Fletcher, said of the increasing uncertainty about the future of HS2:

“Once again the north has been promised the earth but all it seems we’ll get is scorched earth.

“For the government to even be thinking about scrapping the northern leg is just madness and I find it difficult to comprehend the logic behind it. It neither makes sense economically nor politically. All we have had over the last decade are cut backs, delays and disappointments. This latest episode is the most serious threat yet and we urge government to think again.”