Five Labour mayors have called on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to deliver on the high-speed railway (HS2), amid concerns that the project’s north leg will be scrapped by the government.
Mayors Sadiq Khan, Andy Burnham, Tracy Brabin, Oliver Coppard and Steve Rotheram are travelling to Leeds on Wednesday to issue a joint statement and ask the prime minister not to cut the HS2 further.
Ahead of the meeting, the leaders wrote a letter to Mr. Sunak, reminding the government of its commitment to deliver the HS2 and the Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) lines across the northern regions.
‘Act of Economic Vandalism’
Speculation is rife over whether the leg of HS2 connecting Birmingham to Manchester may be scrapped or delayed in the near future due to escalating costs.All the gains for Leeds, Sheffield, Manchester and Birmingham from the full Y-shaped HS2 project will be lost, should Whitehall backtrack on the initial plan, according to the mayors’ statement.
“To renege on the commitment to the northern part of HS2 would damage jobs, investment, confidence and infrastructure. Quite frankly, it would tear up any notion that this government is committed to levelling up,” Ms. Brabin said.
Negotiation
Although opposed to the scrapping the HS2 project, the leaders in Greater Manchester said they would be willing to discuss northern leg delays, if Downing Street commits to building an east-west route.Mayor Andy Burnham and Manchester City council leader Bev Craig said they could be open to a discussion about prioritising the Northern section of the line, between Manchester Airport and Manchester Piccadilly. This would enable the NPR to be built first, they said.
Mr. Burnham and Ms. Craig argued that the north of England should not be forced to choose between new north-south and east-west rail infrastructure “in the same way that London hasn’t been forced [to make] such a choice.”
Mr. Philp rejected the idea that the people of Manchester were treated by the government as “second-class citizens.”
He insisted that Whitehall’s commitment to the Midlands, the North, and the levelling up agenda was “absolutely undimmed.” The prime minister and the chancellor need to scrutinise the costs, he added.
The figures were calculated using 2019 prices, which would have been negatively affected by the current higher level of inflation.