UK to build new rail line between Birmingham and Manchester two years after HS2 scrapped

Sir Keir Starmer is set to announce plans to build a new railway line between Birmingham and Manchester just over two years after the HS2 expansion was scrapped.

Rishi Sunak cancelled building the high-speed network between the two cities in October 2023 in order to save money.

But now ministers are expected to set out plans as they confirm proposals for new and improved rail links across the north of England as part of a scheme known as the Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR).

The move comes as Labour tries to see off the threat of Nigel Farage’s Reform, with Sir Keir at risk of losing dozens of parliamentary seats across the north of England at the next general election.

Mr Farage’s deputy Richard Tice has said that a Reform government would axe any high-speed rail schemes earmarked for the North.

With Labour trailing Reform in the polls, the party hopes that delivering on issues like public services and infrastructure can help it woo disgruntled voters in constituencies across the area.

Sir Keir has promised people across Britain will feel “positive change” this year, amid growing questions over his premiership and speculation he will face a leadership challenge if Labour fares badly in the May local elections.

Before he became prime minister Sir Keir said he could not promise a Labour government would reverse the decision to scrap HS2, despite calls for a pledge from Labour’s Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham.

His comments came after Mr Sunak was criticised by two former prime ministers, David Cameron and Boris Johnson, for cancelling the rail link north to Manchester.

And the National Audit Office warned that the scrapping of HS2 would cost £100m and take up to three years.

At the time, Mr Sunak said he had been forced to act when costs “doubled”, but insisted that the money saved would be spent improving rail and road links in England and Wales instead.

NPR was originally suggested by the then Conservative chancellor George Osborne in 2014.

At that stage he said that he wanted to create high-speed rail links between the major cities across the North.

The plans have suffered from the chaos that affected the Tory governments in the later years of that decade and into the 2020s.

Sir Keir said: “Over and over again, people in northern communities, from Liverpool and Manchester to York and Newcastle have been let down by broken promises.

“This cycle has to end. No more paying lip service to the potential of the North, but backing it to the hilt.

“That’s why this Government is rolling up its sleeves to deliver real, lasting change for millions of people through Northern Powerhouse Rail: a major new rail network across the North that will deliver faster, more frequent services.”

NPR is the focus of the Government’s wider Northern Growth Strategy, which will be published in spring and aims to provide better jobs, more homes and increased investment in the region.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves said: “If economic growth is the challenge, investment and renewal is the solution.

“That’s why we’re reversing years of chronic underinvestment in the North.

“Our transformative plans will create jobs, build homes and unlock opportunities for businesses to invest.”

Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, said: “Finally, we have a Government with an ambitious vision for the North, firm commitment to Northern Powerhouse Rail and an openness to an underground station in Manchester city centre.”

He added: “Today marks a significant step forward for Greater Manchester.

“We’ll now work at pace to prove the case for an underground station and work up detailed designs for the route between Liverpool and Manchester.”

Shadow rail minister Jerome Mayhew said: “Labour lurch from review to review, deadline to deadline, with no grip on costs, no clarity on scope and no courage to make decisions, exemplified nowhere clearer than the hatchet job of Great British Railways.

“Northern Powerhouse Rail could have been transformational, empowering regional growth and regeneration. Under Labour it risks becoming a permanent mirage that is endlessly redesigned, downgraded and never delivered.”