It’s the spectre that seems fated to haunt British politics forever. Late last week, rumours began to circulate that HS2, the long delayed and perennially over-budget high-speed rail line first floated in the dying days of the last Labour administration, was once again to be extended beyond its present terminus of Birmingham. Even if not a full resurrection, there were rumours of a cut-price “HS2-lite”: a new, slightly slower line running to Crewe, put out to private tender rather than being overseen by the government’s own HS2 ltd, with a further extension on to Manchester coming sometime later.
The government has now slapped down the claims. In addition to renewing efforts to control the project’s endlessly growing costs, they declared yesterday (21 October) that the extension would not be revived, putting an end to a few days of delirious excitement among commentators and politicians. For LBC’s Shelagh Fogarty, Rishi Sunak’s originally scrapping of phase two last October was both “anti-growth” and “anti-doing something about the north of England”. Andy Street, former mayor of the West Midlands, had gone further, saying that the scheme’s potential revival would ensure the country gets “something fit for the century ahead”.
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