Rishi Sunak axes northern leg of HS2 in flurry of ‘radical’ decisions
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Rishi Sunak axed the northern leg of the HS2 high-speed rail line to Manchester on Wednesday as he unveiled a series of “radical” policies to change Britain including education reforms and a smoking crackdown.
The UK prime minister claimed that £36bn could be saved by scrapping HS2 north of Birmingham, and that the money would be recycled into better-value road, rail and bus projects, including links between northern cities.
In his speech to the Conservative party conference in Manchester, Sunak also promised big reforms to education for 16- to 19-year-olds, with the introduction of an “advanced British standard” in England that would merge A-levels and the more vocational T-levels into a single qualification.
Sunak further announced that the legal age for smoking would be raised by one year, every year, so that a 14-year-old today would not legally be sold a cigarette. New restrictions on the sale of vapes would also be introduced. “We will be radical,” Sunak told the Tory conference.
“Our mission is to fundamentally change our country. Where a consensus is false we will challenge it,” he added, citing his recent decision to water down Britain’s net zero targets.
Rishi Sunak’s conference speech: five key takeaways
Axing the northern leg of the High Speed 2 rail line from Birmingham to Manchester
Launching an “ambitious” new “Network North” rail project, including a fully electrified line to incorporate a new station in Bradford
Introducing an “advanced British standard” to merge A-levels and the more vocational T-levels into a single qualification
Lifting the legal age for smoking by one year, every year, so that no 14-year-old would ever be able to buy cigarettes legally
Reaffirming the UK’s legally binding target to meet net zero carbon emissions by 2050 in a “pragmatic, proportionate and realistic” way
Sunak’s 65-minute address saw him present himself as a “change candidate” at the next election, even though his party has now been in power for 13 years. He argued that Britain would not have to turn to the opposition Labour party to secure a change of direction.
With opinion polls typically putting the Tories 15 to 20 points behind Labour, Sunak’s speech marked an attempt by the prime minister to change the political agenda and force Labour to come up with its own policy responses.
Sunak’s heavily trailed decision to axe the second phase of HS2 during his keynote speech in Manchester, which will now not have a high-speed link with Birmingham, has dominated the four-day conference.
The manufacturing group Make UK criticised the prime minister’s “hugely disappointing message about our commitment to completing major infrastructure projects in the UK”.
David Cameron, the former Conservative prime minister who pushed forward the southern leg of HS2, said “many will look back at today’s announcement and wonder how this once-in-a-generation opportunity was lost”.
But West Midlands mayor Andy Street, who had previously indicated he was considering resigning from the Conservative party over the issue, said he would not do so, despite describing himself as “very disappointed”.
Sunak said the government’s new priority was to develop better east-west links across the Pennines between northern cities. He said the business case for HS2 had changed, including because of the reduction in post-coronavirus business travel.
“We will reinvest every single penny, £36bn, in hundreds of new transport projects across the north, Midlands and the rest of the country,” he said to cheers from party representatives.
Sunak announced a new “Network North” rail project, including a fully electrified line that incorporated a new station at Bradford, along with a tram system in Leeds and a host of road schemes. He said HS2 trains would run north to Manchester from Birmingham along existing, slower rail lines.
Sunak also confirmed HS2 would be built from Birmingham to Euston in central London, rather than stopping at a new station at Old Oak Common. The Euston area will be turned into a major new inner city development, which Sunak hopes will draw in billions of pounds in private investment.
The prime minister said the HS2 decision proved he was willing to break with a “30-year-old status quo” in British politics, encompassing the post-Thatcher era, which had been dominated by “vested interests”. The Conservatives have been in power for 17 of those 30 years.
Sunak has appeared to relish the fight with four former prime ministers — Gordon Brown, Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson — over HS2. One senior cabinet minister said: “We are going to keep making big decisions, pick fights and see what Labour does.”
Labour criticised what it said was a “fiasco” over HS2 and claimed Sunak had reannounced existing transport schemes. But the opposition party has not committed to reinstating the high-speed line to Manchester.
The prime minister delighted Tory activists with his speech by claiming Britain had recovered faster from the Covid-19 pandemic than France and Germany, according to recently revised official figures, “not in spite of Brexit but because of Brexit”.
Sunak also picked up what has become an almost obligatory theme of platform speeches at the Tory conference, an attack on allegedly “woke” attitudes on transgender issues. “A man is a man and a woman is a woman and that’s just common sense,” he said to rapturous applause.
In a personal closing section, he said: “I’m proud to be Britain’s first Asian prime minister but I’m even prouder that it’s not a big deal.” Sunak added: “It’s time for a change — and we are it.”
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