Full list of Rishi Sunak’s promises for north of England as HS2 leg scrapped

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Rishi Sunak has axed the costly northern leg of the controversial HS2 rail link saying it would pruduce £36 billion in savings, but he’s still pomised benefits to those living in the North and Midlands.

The Prime Minister said in his speech at the Conservative Party Conference today HS2’s leg from the Birmingham to Manchester would be cancelled and replaced with a new ‘network north’.

He said: “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.”

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The PM listed of a host of benefits for the North and Midlands from scrapping the scheme:

• Protection for the £12 billion scheme to link Manchester and Liverpool
• A Midlands Rail Hub connecting 50 different stations
• A tram network for Leeds
• Electrification of the North Wales mainline
• Extension of the Midlands Metro
• Upgrades to the A1, A2, A5 and M6.

Mr Sunak also promised a boost for closer links between Scotland and Northern Ireland with improvements to the A75 linking ferry ports to Glasgow and the rest of the UK.

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”.

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Rishi Sunak challenged opponents of his transport plan to say they would cancel the projects he announced in his conference speech.

He said: “For too long people in Westminster have invested in the transport they want, not the transport the rest of the country – particularly the North and the Midlands – wants and needs.

“And to those who disagree, who will focus on what I have stopped, I ask you to consider what we have just created with Network North.

“An alternative which in place of one delayed and overrunning project will now begin hundreds upon hundreds of new projects, large and small, road and rail, bus and train covering the whole country that will be delivered faster, that will see every region receiving more investment than they would have done.

“You can’t have both, so those who wish to disagree with me, I respect that. But they should have the honesty to admit that they would now be cancelling the hundreds of alternative projects right across the country that people will benefit from instead.”

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