Rishi Sunak scraps Birmingham-Manchester leg of HS2
He made the announcement at the Tory party conference
Last updated 4th Oct 2023
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has confirmed the northern leg of HS2 between Birmingham and Manchester will no longer go ahead.
At the Conservative Party Conference, the Prime Minister said he was stopping construction of the rest of the HS2 route once it had reached Birmingham.
He said the business case for HS2 had changed and that the project’s costs had “more than doubled”.
As Mr Sunak axed HS2, he promised to use the £36 billion of savings to fund hundreds of other transport schemes across the Midlands and the North of England.
Mr Sunak confirmed the scheme will run to Euston in central London, rather than terminating at Old Oak Common in the capital’s western suburbs, but promised to get a grip on the costs of the project.
Rishi introduces "Network North"
While talking about HS2 Mr Sunak told the Tory conference: “I say to those who backed the project in the first place, the facts have changed and the right thing to do when the facts change is to have the courage to change direction.
“So I am ending this long-running saga. I am cancelling the rest of the HS2 project and in its place, we will reinvest every single penny, £36 billion in hundreds of new transport projects in the north and the midlands, across the country.
“This means £36 billion of investment in the project that will make a real difference across our nation.”
What transport schemes in the North is Rishi funding?
Rishi Sunak talked about a number of schemes that will be focussed on in the absence of the northern leg of HS2.
He said “we will protect the £12 billion to link up Manchester and Liverpool as planned and we’ll engage with local leaders on how best to deliver that scheme”.
He added: “We’ll build the Midlands Rail Hub connecting 50 different stations, we will help Andy Street extend the West Midlands Metro, we will build the Leeds tram, we will electrify the North Wales mainline, upgrade A1, the A2, the A5, the M6.
“We will connect our union with the A75, boosting links between Scotland and Northern Ireland.”
He also said the Government will deliver “70 other road schemes”, “resurface roads across the country” and “keep the £2 bus fare across the whole country”.
London to Birmingham HS2 leg to go ahead
Rishi Sunak said “we will complete the line from Birmingham to Euston” given how far along construction is.
He added that: “yes, HS2 trains will still run here to Manchester and journey times will be cut between Manchester, Birmingham, London by 30 minutes."
“An incredible political gaffe”
The Tory mayor for the West Midlands, Andy Street, earlier said axing HS2 to Manchester would be “an incredible political gaffe” allowing opponents to accuse Mr Sunak of having decided to “shaft the North” while in Manchester.
Mr Street put off a trip to Munich to drum up investment for his region, instead choosing to stay in Manchester.
What else did Rishi Sunak announce?
Away from HS2 the Prime Minister spoke about a new education qualification, a crackdown on smoking and full-life prison sentences.
Smoking
Mr Sunak proposed raising the smoking age one year, every year, meaning a 14-year-old today could never legally be sold cigarettes.
Rishi Sunak said more must be done to “try and stop teenagers taking up cigarettes in the first place”.
He told the Conservative party conference in Manchester that “a 14-year-old today will never legally be sold a cigarette,” under new legislation.
Jail sentences
Rishi Sunak promised to legislate to ensure “sadistic” killers spend the rest of their lives in prison, saying this should not be “controversial”.
He said: “I am clear there are some crimes so heinous that those who perpetrate them should spend the rest of their lives behind bars.
“So I can confirm that we will legislate for sexual and sadistic murders to carry a full life term with no prospect of release.
New education qualification introduced
Rishi Sunak said that he would introduce a major reform of secondary school qualifications, bringing together A-levels and T-levels to create a new “Advanced British Standard” which will see students covering more subjects.
The story of HS2
High Speed 2 (HS2) is a high-speed railway line in the UK, which was originally planned to run from London and Wigan. It is the second high-speed line in the UK; the first (HS1) connects London to the Channel Tunnel.
HS2 was due to connect London to Wigan, with a route passing through Birmingham, the East Midlands, Crewe, Warrington, Manchester and Wigan.
HS2 trains travel at speeds of 400 km/h (250mph)
In 2010 HS2 was estimated to have cost between £30.9 billion and £36 billion, however the most recent figures from 2019 detail that the project will cost between £80.7 billion and £106 billion.
A public consultation was done December 2010 when the Conservative–Liberal Democrat coalition undertook a review of HS2 plans put forward by Lord Adonis as Secretary of State for Transport under the previous Labour government. The route was a Y-shaped route from London to Birmingham with branches to Leeds and Manchester.
In 2012, the Secretary of State for Transport, Justine Greening, announced that plans for HS2 would go ahead.
The initial route was a "Y-shaped" network with stations at London, Birmingham, Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield and the East Midlands. It was announced that the new rail network, that would move up to 26,000 people each hour, would be built in two phases.
Phase 1 connects London Euston to a junction with the West Coast Main Line near Lichfield with a branch to Birmingham.
The Phase 1 line is 176 kilometres (109 mi) long and the journey will take 49 minutes.
Work on this phase began in 2020 and is aimed to be completed by 2031.
Phase 2 was to be split in to two parts. Phase 2a, runs from Lichfield to Crewe, Phase 2b runs from from Crewe to the North West and from the West Midlands to East Midlands Parkway where HS2 joins the conventional rail Midland Main Line.
Five new stations would be built as part of the HS2 plans: Birmingham Curzon Street Station (pictured), Birmingham Interchange, Old Oak Common railway station, Manchester Interchange as well as upgrades to Euston Station in London.
HS2 has received backlash from the public and opposing party members. The Green Party voted to oppose the HS2 plans in 2011 based on it's environmental and economic impact. The UK Independence Party (UKIP) and The Brexit Party have also opposed plans.
Stop HS2 have been campaigning since 2010 against the plans for HS2. The group use the slogan "No business case. No environmental case. No money to pay for it.".
Since their formation, they have been challenging MPs, criticising HS2 plans and have organised many protest events.
In November 2021, the Conservative Government published their delayed Integrated Rail Plan. The plan removed most of the eastern leg running from the East Midlands to Leeds, as well as adding Warrington to the plans.
This plan detailed that Northern Powerhouse Rail between Leeds and Manchester will be a combination of new track and enhancements to existing infrastructure.
There are also plans to fully electrify the Midland Main Line and the Transpennine route, and upgrade the East Coast Main Line.
At the 2023 Conservative Party Conference, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak scrapped the northern leg of HS2, meaning it will only run from London to Birmingham.
Sunak said he would cancel it and replace it with a new network north.
"So I am ending this long-running saga. I am cancelling the rest of the HS2 project and in its place, we will reinvest every single penny, £36 billion in hundreds of new transport projects in the north and the midlands, across the country.