HS2 was supposed to be the UK’s biggest infrastructure project and supposed to transform public transport between London, the Midlands and the North. However, these hopes have fallen short especially with recent news.
Rishi Sunak has announced £1.5bn for transport projects across the Northwest, with Cumbria being allocated £278m of HS2 funding. The Prime Minister said, “This is levelling up in action.”
However, it is clear to see that this is not “levelling up in action.” In 2010 HS2 was announced as part of David Cameron’s election campaign and £20bn was committed to the high-speed rail project. In November 2015, it was predicted it would cost £55.7bn (figures adjusted after inflation). In 2021 it was estimated that this had now nearly doubled and a project on this scale would cost between £72bn and £98bn. In 2023 economists have predicted a total cost of £107bn.
It is no surprise that Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has scrapped the rail up to Manchester and Leeds as it is simply costing too much money for a project that has not seen much progress.
This now then explains Rishi Sunak’s investment into the North’s transport projects to compromise for the scrap of the Manchester and Leeds line and the wasted time and hopes for a better transport line in the North to connect them with more work opportunities down South in London and vice versa.