Boris Johnson has warned Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt they would be out of their “minds” to cancel the HS2 rail link to Manchester as the former PM broke cover to criticise the government’s handling of the project.
Scrapping or delaying the line would be “betraying the north of the country and the whole agenda of levelling up”, Mr Johnson said in a fierce rebuke of Downing Street plans to cut the high-speed rail line short.
The former prime minister told Sunak and the chancellor to “cut the cackle and get on with it”.
His remarks come a day after Sunak endured a bruising series of interviews in which he refused to confirm if HS2 would continue beyond Birmingham.
Writing in his Mail column, the former PM said the issue was a “pivotal moment” for the UK at “a time when we need to show, as a country, that we still have the requisite guts and ambition.”
Investors worth “trillions” are “watching and waiting to see whether they would be right to invest in the talent and genius of these great northern cities. The right transport connections are a vital part of their calculations. They need certainty, and they need it now. Let’s cut the cackle and get on with it,” he wrote.
The Independent first revealed the prime minister was in secret ‘Project Redwood’ talks with the chancellor Jeremy Hunt to axe the project’s northern leg from Birmingham to Manchester.
The revelation prompted widespread outcry, including from former Tory leaders like David Cameron.
Mr Sunak will come under growing pressure over HS2 in the coming days as he takes his party conference to Manchester.
The event will be seen as firing the starting gun on the next general election.
But it risks being overshadowed by the row about HS2, amid accusations that the prime minister is betraying voters in the North. Businesses have also warned that the government risks junking its international reputation by making pledges that require huge investments over a number of years, and then not following through on its promises.
On Thursday business bosses urged Mr Sunak to stop “dithering” and finally reveal the future of HS2.
In an excruciating round of interviews with BBC local radio stations, Mr Sunak repeatedly refused to commit to phase two of the rail link – and instead suggested that fixing potholes was “priority number one” and blamed Covid for failing railways.
The PM told BBC radio that the pandemic caused everyone to “stop travelling on the rail network”, which has made running train services “very difficult”.
The Tory leader said there were “spades in the ground” on phase 1, but refused to say whether he was committed to phase 2, which The Independent revealed Mr Sunak and Mr Hunt are considering scrapping or kicking into the long grass to save cash.
Henrietta Brealey, chief of the Greater Birmingham Chambers of Commerce, told Mr Sunak: “Be bold, have vision and be confident that we can do this. Don’t wobble at the key moment. It can create so much more than the initial investment.”
“The uncertainty is deeply frustrating,” she told The Independent, pointing to the 400 companies and 8,000 jobs in the West Midlands connected to the HS2 supply chain. “Businesses are demanding clarity – they can’t commit to jobs and investment for phase 2.”
With Mr Sunak not expected to set out his cost-cutting plan until next month, Chris Fletcher, policy director at Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, also called on Mr Sunak to end the “madness” of uncertainty and commit to the northern leg in full.
“For some strange reason successive governments, usually driven by the Treasury, have found it impossible to leave well alone and just let it get built,” he told The Independent. “The resultant delays, changes and re-scoping have added extra, unnecessary costs.”
Senior red wall Tories in the influential Northern Research Group have signalled they are willing to accept a delay to the northern leg of HS2 – so long as the PM commits to east-west rail projects.
Labour mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham has suggested he could be open to a delay – if the government commits to a section of HS2 between Manchester Airport and Manchester Piccadilly.
