Sunak ends 'long running saga' and scraps HS2 to Manchester
Sunak has said that he wants the country to have a 'brighter future' - and today he told the UK how he wants to do that. Economics editor Joel Hills and Political Correspondent Harry Horton report
Rishi Sunak has scrapped the northern leg of HS2, finally confirming widely reported news he has been calling "speculation" for weeks.
Announcing the move in his keynote conference speech, he said: "The right thing to do when the facts change, is to have the courage to change direction. So I am ending this long running saga - I am cancelling the rest of the HS2 project."
The prime minister said £36 billion previously ring-fenced for a high speed rail line from London to Manchester would instead be allocated to infrastructure projects to provide better transport links across the north of England.
He said that means "every region outside of London will receive the same or more government investment than they would have done under HS2".
ITV News Business Editor discusses what this means for the economy of northern England
But he was unable to escape the irony of scrapping the Manchester leg of HS2 while delivering a speech inside the city's old train station.
Conservative West Midlands Mayor Andy Street said Mr Sunak's move would allow every Labour MP to say "the Tories have come to Manchester to shaft the North", while Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham said it was a "betrayal of the north of England".
David Cameron said axing this "once-in-a-generation opportunity" was "the wrong" decision.
In a statement on X, Cameron said: "HS2 was about investing for the long-term, bringing the country together, ensuring a more balanced economy and delivering the Northern Powerhouse.
"We achieved historic, cross-party support, with extensive buy-in from city and local authority leaders across the Midlands and North of England. Today’s announcement throws away fifteen years of cross-party consensus, sustained over six administrations, and will make it much harder to build consensus for any future long-term projects.
"All across the world, we see transformative, long-term infrastructure projects completed or underway. They show countries on the rise, building for future generations, thinking big and getting things done.
“I regret this decision and in years to come I suspect many will look back at today’s announcement and wonder how this once-in-a-generation opportunity was lost.”
What other northern infrastructure projects is Sunak talking about?
Mr Sunak said a new project called Network North will allow travel from Manchester to Bradford in 30 minutes, to Sheffield in 42 minutes and to Hull in 84 minutes.
He also promised to improve road transport by resurfacing motorways including the A1, the A2, the A5, the M6 and keep the piloted £2 bus fare across the whole country.
Mr Sunak - who was introduced to the stage in Manchester by his wife Akshata Murthy - says HS2 had become too expensive. It was initially budgeted at £30 billion but the cost is now estimated to have soared higher than £100 billion.
ITV News Correspondent Amy Welch reports on what businesses in the north think about today's announcement
HS2 was originally intended to connect areas including Leeds, Manchester and Crew to London with a high speed rail line, but all northern legs have now been scrapped and it will only extend as far as Birmingham.
Trains running on the high speed rail line from London will still reach those areas but they will move to older, slower lines when travelling beyond Birmingham.
Mr Sunak also confirmed the London end of the line would reach Euston station in central London rather than stopping at Old Oak Common in
Defence Secretary Grant Shapps, who was until recently in charge of the Department for Transport claimed that Manchester will still experience a “much faster journey time”, insisting it was due to the coronavirus pandemic that the curtailing was needed.
He said: “HS2 trains will run to Manchester, so they’ll still come into Manchester Piccadilly, they’ll still run to Leeds, there will still be a much faster journey time than there has been in the past.
“And not just because some of the section will be actually conventional high speed, or new high-speed rail, but also because even the older section can have further upgrades to, for example, its digital infrastructure which is the way the signalling works.”
Mr Sunak also insisted he is still committed to Northern Powerhouse Rail, a project aimed at improving connectivity within the north, but the chief executive of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership Henri Murison said it was "madness" to stop HS2 in Birmingham.
PM commits to policy to phase out cigarette smoking
Mr Sunak proposed raising the smoking age by one year, every year, meaning a 14-year-old today will never legally be sold a cigarette.
"We must tackle the single biggest entirely preventable cause of ill-health, disability and death: smoking," he said.
Laying out the policy, he added: "I propose that in future we raise the smoking age by one year, every year. That means a 14 year old today will never be legally sold a cigarette and that they - and their generation - can grow up smoke free."
The Institute of Economic Affairs quickly hit out at the proposal, calling it "hideously illiberal and unconservative".
Christopher Snowdon, Head of Lifestyle Economics at the free market think tank, said: “It may well breach equalities legislation and will very likely be challenged in the courts.
"It will certainly create huge problems for retailers and may ultimately require a system of national ID cards."
Sunak's wife Akshata Murthy introduces the prime minister to stage in unusual move
The PM’s wife Akshata Murty made a surprise address as she introduced him to the stage for his first conference speech as party leader and what could be his last before the next general election.
Ms Murty told the crowd in Manchester: “Yes, you are absolutely right, I am not on the agenda for today. A bit of a surprise addition shall we say and a surprise for my husband too, who has no idea what I am going to say.”
She later added: “The reason why I am here is really quite simple, and it is because Rishi and I are each other’s best friends.
“We are one team and I could not imagine being anywhere else but here today with all of you to show my support to him and to the party.”
PM compares himself to Thatcher and attacks Keir Starmer
The prime minister attacked Sir Keir Starmer as “the walking definition of the 30-year political status quo”, as he compared himself to former PM Margaret Thatcher.
He said: “You just cannot know what you are going to get with him. The only thing that’s certain is that it won’t be what he is promising you.
“But the worst thing about Sir Keir is that he just says whatever he thinks will benefit him the most. Doesn’t matter whether he can deliver it, doesn’t matter if it’s true. It doesn’t matter if he said the opposite just a few weeks or months ago.
“He is the walking definition of the 30-year political status quo I am here to end. That is why we have to beat him and, conference, that is why we will.”
Mr Sunak said he would “lead in a different way” and to “tell it as it is”, in a nod to Ms Thatcher.
“Everything we want to achieve requires getting inflation under control: inflation is the biggest destroyer of all, of industry, of jobs, of savings and of society," he said.
"No policy which puts at risk the defeat of inflation, no matter its short-term attraction, can be right. Not my words. But those of Margaret Thatcher as true now as they were then.”
What else did Sunak say?
Mr Sunak reflected on his first year in No 10 and acknowledged a “feeling that Westminster is a broken system”.
“It isn’t anger, it is an exhaustion with politics. In particular, politicians saying things, and then nothing ever changing,” he said
“And you know what? People are right. Politics doesn’t work the way it should.
“We’ve had 30 years of a political system which incentivises the easy decision, not the right one – 30 years of vested interests standing in the way of change.”
He accused Labour of failing to “set out their stall” under Sir Keir Starmer and betting on voters’ “apathy” and argued he is the reformer, saying: “Politicians spent more time campaigning for change than actually delivering it.
“Our mission is to fundamentally change our country.”