Labour can not promise HS2 to Manchester - Keir Starmer

Labour can not commit to building HS2's northern leg after the government "took a wrecking ball" to its finances, Sir Keir Starmer has said.

Plans to build the high-speed route north of Birmingham have been scrapped by Rishi Sunak, with £36bn diverted to local transport schemes.

Labour has come under pressure to pledge to revive the route, with £2.2bn already spent on the cancelled stages.

But the party was promising "better connectivity", Sir Keir said.

"I can't stand here and commit to reversing that decision, they've taken a wrecking ball to it."

In a series of BBC interviews, he said the government was "already talking about releasing the land that would have been needed" to take the line to Manchester.

A Labour government would be "laser-focused on growing our economy in all parts of the country - that means we need better connectivity," he added.

The Labour leader said he was already "talking to local mayors" about how to provide better transport links between northern cities.

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HS2 was originally intended to provide a high-speed rail link connecting London to the Midlands before splitting to Manchester and Leeds.

It aimed to cut journey times, while creating more space on the rail network and jobs outside London

But the project has been beset by delays and a budget that has ballooned from £33bn.

The last official estimate of HS2 costs, excluding the cancelled eastern section, added up to about £71bn. However, this was in 2019 prices, so it did not take account of the rise in costs of materials and wages since then.

In his speech on Wednesday, the prime minister said that east-west links were "far more important" than those linking the north with the south of England.

He said his plans would see "hundreds" of alternative projects funded, such as:

• Building a Midlands rail hub, connecting 50 stations

• Upgrading the A1, the A2, the A5, and the M6

• Building a Leeds tram system

• Funding the Shipley bypass, the Blyth relief road, and 70 other road schemes

• Electrifying train lines in north Wales

• Resurfacing roads across the country

• Extending the £2 bus fare cap until the end of December 2024, which was due to rise to £2.50

He also said he would protect £12bn to "better connect" Manchester and Liverpool - although this will not necessarily be with high-speed rail.

Sir Keir said these were "reheated old proposals" the government had already committed finances to. The Integrated Rail Plan for the North and Midlands shows £5.25bn has already been committed to these projects.

Green Party co-leader Carla Denyer accused Mr Sunak of ending up with the "worst of all worlds" by cancelling the second leg of HS2.

The Greens did not support the project, but Ms Denyer told BBC Midlands Today that by "not building the onwards legs, it ends up being the worst of both worlds".

"Where the Midlands ends up being a commuter belt for London, and yet we don't have benefits for the North of England connecting better to the Midlands," she added.

Reform UK leader Richard Tice told the BBC HS2 was a "wretched" and "absurd" scheme which had wasted tens of billions of pounds of taxpayers' money, and his party had always said 'scrap it'.

During his BBC interviews, Sir Keir also attacked Mr Sunak's ability to deliver change, saying he was the "nodding dog who nodded through the decisions that he now says are so terrible".

"The change we need is a change from the Tory government, not more of a Tory government," he added.

The Labour leader said his party would "bulldoze through the barriers" in the way of house building if elected at the next general election.

Challenged on what he would do if opposed by people who did not want housing development, he said: "We have to get the balance right, but for young people, young families, the dream of home ownership has been completely taken away from them - we have to restore that."