PRIME MINISTER SUNAK ‘COMMITTED TO LEVELLING UP’ However, he refuses to back the northern leg of HS2
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was non-committal on Monday (September 25) when asked about reports that his government plans to scrap the northern leg of Britain’s new high-speed rail due to rising costs.
Newspaper reports have suggested that the Manchester to Birmingham leg of the HS2 line will no longer go ahead.
When pressed on the issue during a visit to a community centre in Broxbourne in southern England, Sunak refused to comment but suggested he was committed to ‘levelling up.’
A move to cancel the northern leg of HS2 would mark Sunak’s latest abandonment of earlier pledges. Last week he slowed the pace of key climate change measures, including a ban on the sale of new petrol-powered cars.
Sunak – whose Conservatives are trailing in opinion polls behind the opposition Labour Party ahead of an expected election next year – has said he is making tough choices that strike the right balance between aspiration and cost.