‘Levelling Up? My A**e’: Andy Burnham Fumes Amid Reports Tories Will Scrap Next Phase Of HS2

The Tories have been accused of treating people in the north of England as “second class citizens” after it emerged the next phase of the HS2 project could be axed to save money.

Rishi Sunak’s official spokesman this morning refused to deny that plans to extend the high-speed line from Birmingham to Manchester won’t go ahead.

According to The Independent, the prime minister and chancellor Jeremy Hunt held talks earlier this week on the future of the project amid claims that abandoning the next phase of the scheme would save £34bn.

Reacting to the report, Manchester mayor Andy Mayor posted on X: “It’s coming up 10 years since [George] Osborne’s ‘Northern Powerhouse’ speech and the Tories are set to scrap the last of his rail pledges.

“The result? The southern half of England gets a modern rail system and the North left with Victorian infrastructure. Levelling up? My a**e.”

The former Labour minister added: “The government is guilty of gross mismanagement of HS2 and of making the North pay for their failure.

“Once again, passengers here are seen as second-class citizens. It’s time for an honest conversation about what they WILL do for the North and let voters decide if it’s enough.”

The prime minister’s spokesman would only say: “Spades are already in the ground on the HS2 programme and we’re focused on delivering it.”

In March, the government was criticised for quietly slipping out an announcement that HS2 was once again being delayed.

And nearly two years ago, the government announced that it was scrapping plans to run HS2 from Birmingham to Leeds.