Rishi Sunak repeatedly ducked on whether HS2’s Manchester leg will be axed today as the Tories begin their conference in the city.
The PM stubbornly stonewalled in a BBC interview as he was forced to deny the chaos surrounding the huge rail scheme was making Britain a ‘laughing stock’.
A wave of briefing has suggested that the northern phase of HS2 could be delayed for seven years or ditched altogether after alarm at soaring costs.
Critics say that the scheme could end up costing taxpayers £100million and only result in slower journeys from Birmingham to London – because it might not run all the way into the centre of the capital.
Rishi Sunak repeatedly ducked on whether HS2’s Manchester leg will be axed today as the Tories begin their conference in the city
HS2 construction works happening in Lichfield earlier this year
A stretch of the tunnel being constructed under the Chilterns in West Hyde
The head of the respected IFS think-tank has said the project ‘makes me weep’ and should never have been approved.
However, a host of senior figures have warned Mr Sunak not to abandon the Manchester and central London plans.
Theresa May has become the latest former premier to urge Mr Sunak not to ditch the Birmingham to Manchester leg.
Andy Street, the Tory mayor of the West Midlands, is among the critics of scaling back the project, while London mayor Sadiq Khan warned it could make the UK a ‘laughing stock’.
But Mr Sunak told the BBC‘s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme: ‘I’d completely reject that.’
Speaking in Salford as ministers and Tory members congregate in Manchester’s centre for their annual conference, Mr Sunak insisted the business leaders he speaks to around the world are ‘excited about the opportunity that investing in Britain offers’.
Mr Sunak was battered over an HS2 ‘betrayal’ on Thursday as he toured regional radio studios.
But he dodged giving any firm answers, merely insisting that the government must ‘get value for money’ in a reference to spiralling costs.
He also stressed the importance of fixing potholes and boosting local bus services.
The site at Old Oak Common Station in the London suburbs – which might now by as far as the line comes into the capital
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