October 11th 2023
HS2: Rishi Sunak has ‘robbed’ councils of economy revival hopes
Although Rishi Sunak officially confirmed the cancellation of the northern leg of HS2 at the Conservative political party conference, the nail in the coffin hit once he sold land intended for the project.
HS2, a planned high-speed railway that works to cut carbon emissions, has dominated headlines over the past month after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced plans to scrap the northern leg.
Mr Sunak claimed the rail service had to be axed due to ballooning costs and mismanagement. Last week the railway was revealed to be officially cancelled in Manchester and Birmingham at the Tory party political conference, with plans to still introduce the service in the south.
To further his decision, Mr Sunak has recently authorised the sale of properties that were subject to compulsory purchase orders on part of the northern route to Manchester.
The Mayor of Liverpool, Steve Rotherham, said the decision killed HS2 ‘stone dead’ and would ‘tie any future government’s hands and make the delivery of HS2 for the north all but impossible.
Mr Rotherham said: ‘The Liverpool city region was set to benefit from a £15bn economic boost from the delivery of HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail in full.
‘Almost overnight, the Prime Minister has robbed us of that chance to grow and develop our economy. He has turned the northern powerhouse into the northern powerless with this latest act of a long line of pronouncements that are holding the north down, not levelling us up.’
Speaking up on the matter, Labour leader Keir Starmer has said he won’t be able to commit to building HS2 should he win the next general election and told ITV News Meridian: ‘What I can’t do is stand here now they have taken a wrecking ball to this project, and say that we will simply reverse it.
‘What I will say is we will work with leaders across the country to make sure that we have the transport we need between our cities and within our cities and projects that can actually be delivered.’
As well as destroying potential modes of sustainable transport, the government’s decision has also left the fate of 1,000 properties in limbo.
People living in properties along the originally proposed route – from London to Birmingham, Manchester, and Leeds – have been able to either voluntarily sell their homes or had them forcibly purchased.
To this day, HS2 has spent £587m buying land and buildings for the sections that would have run from Birmingham on to Manchester or Leeds. In addition, over 900 homes were bought and of these, 185 were for the planned stretch from Crewe to Manchester and another 530 for the stretch from Birmingham to Leeds.
Image: Reuters
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