With the House of Commons rising for recess this week for party conference season, the government has until Tuesday to announce any major changes to the railway line. Decisions on spending are being made ahead of the autumn financial statement in November.
These were the words of the Foreign Secretary, James Cleverly, as he pointedly avoided confirming that the high-speed railway line known as HS2 would be built to Manchester on Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips.There was a change in"sequencing" earlier this year, when the transport secretary delayed the Birmingham to Crewe leg and pushed back the Euston opening.
At the time, Whitehall officials were noticeably vague on whether the new line would be built to Manchester at all, with the Department for Transport taking several days and several phone calls just to confirm that was still government policy.As ever, money will be the motivating factor for any change - with speculation that cash saved on the project could be freed up for the East/West 'Northern Powerhouse' rail link or for other pre-election giveaways.
The big political risk is ending up with a hugely expensive train line that doesn't reach Central London but doesn't reach the North of England either . The timing may also be awkward given the Conservatives are due in Manchester for their annual conference in a fortnight's time. Of course, Tory MPs travelling there by rail will have problems anyway – as train drivers are walking out on strike at the beginning and end of the four-day event., which may be using cookies and other technologies. To show you this content, we need your permission to use cookies. You can use the buttons below to amend your preferences to enablecookies or to allow those cookies just once.
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