Downing Street looks to cut off HS2 northern leg

Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt are weighing up plans to scrap or further delay the HS2 railway line between Birmingham, Manchester and the North East. The Treasury has drawn up options for potential cost savings that could be made by either ending the line in Birmingham or pushing back construction of HS2’s northern leg still further. Whitehall has argued that scrapping the line between Birmingham and Manchester – which could save up to £34bn – would free up funding for other transport infrastructure projects in the North and Midlands. The eastern leg of the project that would link HS2 to the East Coast mainline is also in jeopardy. “The question is whether the money for HS2 could be better spent,” sources said. The Times (£)The FT (£)The Telegraph (£)The Guardian