HS2: Government refuses to guarantee Manchester branch

The government has refused to guarantee the future of the HS2 rail line between Birmingham and Manchester.

A Downing Street spokesperson instead suggested that ministers would need to balance the interests of "passengers and taxpayers".

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt met on Wednesday and discussed the HS2 project.

Their primary concerns are said to be over spiralling costs and delays to the project.

"Spades are already in the ground on our HS2 programme and we're focused on delivering it," the prime minister's official spokesman said, but would not promise that the line would go to Manchester.

Asked whether the prime minister was committed to the line going to Manchester, the spokesman said: "We are committed to HS2, to the project."

However, Number Ten did confirm that ministers were looking at "rephasing" the project, hinting at a possible delay.

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham said: "Why should it be the North of England that pays the price?

"What we are going to end up with here is in the southern half of the country, a modern, high-speed rail network, and the northern half of the country left with crumbling Victorian infrastructure. That won't level us up it will do the exact opposite."

In March, Transport Secretary Mark Harper announced that work on a new station at London Euston would be pushed back by two years because of rising costs.

At the same time, the government said the section between Birmingham and Crewe would be delayed by two years, to spread out spending.

Costs around HS2 have increased significantly and are now well above its original budget of £33bn, which was set a decade ago when work on the line began.

It was originally planned for HS2 to run between London to Birmingham before splitting into two sections to Manchester and Leeds.

But two years ago, plans for the Eastern leg from Birmingham to Leeds were cut back so the new line would stop at the East Midlands.

A spokesperson for the High Speed Rail Group said scrapping phase two would be a "disaster" for the North of England and the Midlands and the "ultimate U-turn".

He added: "The government needs to kill the speculation and make its intentions clear, and it ought to commit clearly and unambiguously to delivering the project as planned. The 30,000 people delivering HS2 deserve this. Our future generations deserve this. The North and Midlands deserve this."