HS2: Labour criticises 'back of fag packet' transport plan

Labour has criticised the government's "Network North" alternative to HS2 as a "back of the fag packet plan".

The prime minister scrapped the northern leg of the high speed rail line earlier this month, promising to invest the money saved in other transport projects across the country.

But Labour said the new plan included projects which had already been announced or do not exist.

Shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh said it was an "insult" to the North.

Rishi Sunak confirmed HS2 would not continue from Birmingham to Manchester in his speech at the Conservative Party conference, after the cost of the project soared.

The first estimate for the line was about £33bn in 2010, but this later soared and the most recent official estimate was £71bn in 2019. The cost would have risen further since then, due to inflation.

Instead, the prime minister said the £36bn saved would all be reinvested in smaller transport projects, including improving connections between towns and cities in northern England, electrifying train lines in north Wales and upgrading the A1, the A5 and the M6 roads.

MPs had their first opportunity to question the transport secretary on the decision in the Commons on Monday.

Ms Haigh said the prime minister "should take responsibility for the sheer chaos, incompetence and desperation" surrounding the announcement.

"Only he would insult the north with the back of the fag packet plan he's announced in its place," she told MPs.

She said the decision would have "profound consequences", with businesses losing out and jobs being lost because of the cancellation of the northern leg of HS2.

• What is HS2 and why scrap the Manchester link?

• Are the transport links replacing HS2 actually new?

Ms Haigh added that the Network North plan announced instead was made up of "projects that have already been built, projects that have already been announced and projects that do not exist".

She said examples included extending the Manchester Metrolink line to Manchester Airport, a project which opened in 2014, and an upgrade to the A259 to Southampton, a route which does not exist.

On the tram announcement, Transport for Greater Manchester said an extension to the line outside Terminal 2 was being looked at and on the A259, the government has since confirmed the improvements are actually towards Littlehampton, which is in a different direction.

Last week, Mr Sunak said a list of transport projects the government said would get funding as part of the plan was only "illustrative" and ultimately local leaders would be in charge of how the money was spent.

But Ms Haigh said this was "illustrative of the sheer incompetence of this government" and "the contempt with which they treat the North".

Transport Secretary Mark Harper told the Commons Network North "creates more winners in more places" than HS2 and "prioritises people's every day journeys".

He said the benefits of the high speed line were "dwindling" after the decline in business travel post-pandemic and "risked crowding out investment in other transport areas".

Mr Harper added that regional mayors would be working with the government on the detail of transport plans for their areas.

The high speed rail project was intended to link London, the Midlands and the north of England. Now only the line from London to Birmingham, where work has already started, will be built in full.

In the Commons, several Conservative MPs praised the move to ditch the Birmingham to Manchester leg and welcomed investment for other transport schemes in their areas.

Greg Smith, who represents Buckingham and whose constituency the line will pass through, called for HS2 to be scrapped entirely, saying the leg between London and Birmingham was already bringing "daily misery to my constituents".

However, Conservative former Business Secretary Greg Clark expressed "dismay" and "shame" that the UK is unable to "connect our great cities when other major countries around the world are able to do so".

Labour has said it cannot commit to building HS2's northern leg if it wins power, with leader Sir Keir Starmer saying the government has "taken a wrecking ball" to the project and was "already talking about releasing the land that would have been needed" to take the line to Manchester.