After Rishi Sunak's announcement this week on the cancellation of the HS2 rail project, we talk to political leaders, commentators and the general public in Scotland and the north of England on what it means for them, and what it might mean for the prime minister and his party.
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00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:03 I am cancelling the rest of the HS2 project.
00:15 Why is it that people in the north
00:16 are always forced to choose?
00:18 Why are we always treated as second class citizens?
00:22 It's a political suicide, really.
00:26 It's like living with an abusive partner.
00:29 It's just-- it's rubbish.
00:31 [LAUGHTER]
00:35 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:38 Every £1 spent on HS2 was originally
00:48 forecast to deliver £2.30 in taxpayer benefits.
00:53 Billed as building Britain's future,
00:56 it was a zero-carbon, high-speed railway and the UK's flagship
01:00 transport levelling-up project.
01:04 It was the biggest rail investment ever made
01:06 in the north of England, and it was Europe's largest
01:09 infrastructure project.
01:10 The new high-speed line was to run between the north-west
01:16 and the south-east, stopping at Manchester, Birmingham,
01:19 and London, with trains continuing
01:21 on the existing network to Scotland and elsewhere.
01:25 In total, over 250 miles of new high-speed line
01:30 was planned across the country.
01:34 But as speculation grew ahead of the Conservative Party
01:36 conference this week in Manchester,
01:38 Prime Minister Rishi Sunak refused
01:40 to confirm whether he planned to announce the high-speed railway
01:43 would stop at Birmingham.
01:47 And then, on Wednesday, there was this.
01:51 We're launching Network North, a new plan for transport
01:54 that will transform roads, rails and buses across the north
01:57 and the Midlands.
01:58 How are we able to do this?
02:00 Because I'm stopping all phases of HS2 beyond Birmingham,
02:04 and we'll reinvest every single penny
02:07 saved into transport projects across the north and Midlands.
02:10 That means we can quadruple the number of trains
02:13 from Sheffield to Leeds, cut journey times into Manchester,
02:16 and electrify lines through to Hull,
02:18 build a new line and station at Bradford,
02:20 sort the congestion out on the M6, A1, A2 and A50,
02:24 deliver the Midlands rail hub in full,
02:27 provide billions to support local transport links
02:29 in cities and towns, alongside support
02:31 for hundreds of bus routes.
02:33 There's too much to mention now, but all of this
02:37 means more jobs, more growth, and more opportunities
02:40 in the towns, cities and rural areas
02:43 across the north and Midlands.
02:48 Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham
02:50 has hit out at the debate over the future
02:52 of the HS2 rail project.
02:54 Burnham said he believes the people in the north
02:57 are once again being treated like second-class citizens
03:00 when it comes to transport.
03:01 We spoke to people in Manchester to find out
03:04 what they think about the current rail services
03:06 and the potential plans to scrap HS2 in the north.
03:10 100% behind him.
03:12 I come from Wigan.
03:14 It's 20 miles as the crow flies.
03:16 It takes me 57 minutes on the train.
03:19 It costs me £12.70 a return.
03:22 We travel to London quite a lot on the West Coast Main Line.
03:25 I would say at least two to three times out of five,
03:29 we get delay repay on the tickets, which is quite a lot.
03:33 The trains at the moment, because they're not running
03:35 as many on the West Coast Main Line, are packed.
03:38 You can upgrade to the premium economy, which is great
03:41 because you get the bigger seats that used to be first class.
03:43 So my husband can work, and it is every man for himself
03:47 if you haven't booked a seat.
03:49 If you look at the tube system in London, for instance,
03:52 it does work, and it helps people not to have to use the cars
03:59 and things, whereas I feel like there's a lot more traffic
04:02 on the road up here and things because we haven't got
04:04 an alternative, really, have we?
04:06 And also, other countries.
04:07 I've been on holiday in Europe recently.
04:10 You see how much better the train systems are over there.
04:15 Investments obviously made in it in other countries,
04:17 and we're not investing in it.
04:19 And yeah, I think things are getting worse, unfortunately.
04:21 I live a little distance from Manchester,
04:24 and quite often would get the train down.
04:27 But because of all the cancellations and everything,
04:30 I tend to drive down now, which is not brilliant for everything,
04:34 is it?
04:35 But I tend to drive rather than using the train
04:37 because I don't know if trains are
04:39 going to be running and things.
04:40 I think we're treated like second class citizens
04:43 from the point of view of maintenance
04:46 of the existing infrastructure.
04:48 But I don't really agree that HS2 is going to solve that.
04:52 It's a project that's just out of control
04:54 without clear benefits that's been proven.
04:58 I agree that more could be done, but particularly
05:02 the cross-country services, east-west, that we do lack.
05:06 North-south's not too bad at the moment.
05:09 I think that's true, yes.
05:10 I think that is true.
05:11 I think London does tend to get a lot of the perks
05:15 that we don't.
05:16 And it's good to see the yellow B buses coming.
05:19 They're more joined up, more like London,
05:21 because the public transport isn't really joined up, is it?
05:24 Because it's all pieces.
05:26 I think the high-speed people say--
05:29 it's only half an hour shaved off the time, isn't it?
05:32 But it will bring benefits to the wider communities.
05:36 I'm hoping that would happen.
05:38 Every single penny, £36 billion in hundreds
05:45 of new transport projects in the north and the Midlands
05:48 across the country.
05:50 Well, of course, in the last few days,
05:51 the prime minister has skillfully avoided questions
05:54 about HS2, choosing to unveil the announcement
05:58 during his closing address at this year's Conservative Party
06:01 conference.
06:02 He is assured the public that the funds from HS2
06:05 will be allocated to support hundreds
06:07 of alternative transportation projects
06:10 throughout the country.
06:12 It has been confirmed that the HS2 line will continue
06:16 to terminate at Euston, despite earlier proposals
06:19 that considered concluding it in the West London
06:22 suburb of Old Oak Common instead of the city centre.
06:26 The reason this came to public attention
06:28 was a cameraman-- or camera person, I should say--
06:30 with a long lens who sort of picked up
06:33 something that was written on an aid's papers of the fact
06:37 that the costs of HS2 were being discussed.
06:39 So clearly, Sonek and his chancellor and others around him
06:42 have been discussing this intently.
06:45 The theory was it was meant to be announced
06:48 in the autumn statement, which is late next month in November.
06:52 So Sonek has got to Manchester, where ironically, of course,
06:56 HS2 was meant to come in and part of this great levelling up
06:59 process, which is going to connect the cities
07:01 and sort of fast train some sort of Manchester down to London.
07:04 So I think there's a lot of very angry people
07:07 who believe that they've been let down very big time,
07:09 given all the sort of proclamations
07:11 that were made about HS2 until fairly recently.
07:14 One person who's certainly not happy
07:16 is Conservative West Midlands Mayor Andy Street.
07:19 He may well have resigned by the time you watch this report.
07:23 Meanwhile, Unite General Secretary Sharon Graham
07:26 has accused the government of undermining investment
07:29 and destroying any credibility for their claims
07:32 about rebalancing the economy.
07:34 She has called for Labour to reinstate the HS2 Northern Link
07:38 project should they get elected at the next general election.
07:43 Well, on one level, it certainly looks
07:44 like a clear continuation of the North-South divide.
07:48 The fact is that it gets to Birmingham
07:51 and then sort of stops is pretty poor.
07:53 Now, we can obviously describe Birmingham
07:55 as being in the north.
07:56 But nonetheless, when you go north beyond Birmingham,
07:59 yeah, there's a lot of big problems.
08:01 In 2013, HS2 was estimated to cost 37.5 billion.
08:06 Today, costs are reported to have exceeded 100 billion.
08:10 By axing the Northern Leg, Prime Minister Sunak
08:13 hopes to demonstrate to voters that he
08:16 is the change candidate, someone who
08:18 can take the tough decisions to make Britain work.
08:23 I'm Alan Young.
08:24 I'm Deputy Editor of The Scotsman.
08:25 I'm delighted to be joined by the editor of The Yorkshire
08:27 Post, James Mitchison, and The Scotsman's Westminster
08:30 correspondent, Alexander Brown, to put
08:32 a bit of context around this story.
08:34 James, if I could turn to you first.
08:36 I know there is a lot of anger in the north of England
08:39 about this.
08:40 Can you give us a sense of the reaction?
08:43 There is a lot of anger, actually, this time.
08:47 Just this weekend, we ran a conversation
08:50 with Professor Andrew McNaughton.
08:53 He's the engineer who designed HS2.
08:56 And he said to The Yorkshire Post
09:00 that it is beyond comprehension that they stop now.
09:05 And the reason it's beyond comprehension
09:07 that they stop now, that they don't deliver it to Leeds,
09:11 and they don't deliver it to Manchester--
09:12 so west, east, non-delivery to two of the north's
09:17 biggest economic hubs.
09:20 In his words-- these are his words, not mine--
09:23 they're the important parts.
09:25 They're the most important parts.
09:27 They are the bits of this puzzle that make it make sense.
09:32 Those are the hubs that need connecting.
09:33 Those are the places that have latent potential that
09:36 can be unlocked.
09:38 And those are the places that are
09:39 lacking opportunity and prosperity because
09:42 of connectivity issues.
09:45 He was very calm and calculated and thoughtful and brilliant
09:49 with us.
09:50 But his anger was palpable.
09:54 Indeed.
09:57 This is a political problem for what's
10:00 seen as well, Alex, if I can come to you.
10:05 The Tories didn't want this to get out.
10:08 They didn't want to be talking about this this week.
10:10 Certainly didn't want to be talking about it in Manchester,
10:13 as James says, and having to confront people and look them
10:18 in the eye.
10:20 This is a bigger problem, though, looking ahead
10:22 to the next election, isn't it, for Rishi Sunak?
10:26 It's a political suicide, really,
10:28 because it's going to damage relations in the North.
10:30 It's completely overshadowed the whole conference as a whole.
10:34 Not that there's any policy to talk about, but it's HS2.
10:37 All anyone is talking about is HS2.
10:40 No one is asking ministers and going, oh, well,
10:42 about your speech earlier.
10:43 What about that?
10:43 They're going, what do you think about HS2?
10:45 What does this mean?
10:47 And they can't say anything.
10:48 So instead of having control of the message, which
10:50 is the whole thing that makes good government,
10:52 is having, well, firstly, having ideas and policies,
10:54 but then getting those messages across.
10:56 But that is simply not happening.
10:58 Instead, they're just denying knowledge
11:00 until we hear from the prime minister tomorrow, who will say,
11:03 I'm scrapping it, and the money's going to go here.
11:06 But we still don't know.
11:07 The industry doesn't know.
11:08 So it's political suicide, and it's
11:09 very, very damaging for relations
11:11 with many of his own MPs.
11:13 It's like living with an abusive partner, somebody
11:16 who takes pleasure in inflicting harm upon you
11:20 and delighting in the sort of impact of it.
11:23 It isn't necessarily that we're not going to get HS2.
11:26 It isn't necessarily that we're not going to get Northern
11:28 Powerhouse Rail.
11:30 It's the betrayal.
11:31 It's yet another promise of something
11:33 that would have improved our lives
11:35 that we're not going to get.
11:38 And people are fed up, honestly.
11:40 They're fed up of deceit, and they're fed up of U-turns.
11:45 They're just fed up of being told one thing
11:48 and getting another.
11:49 And I think at some point, that string will snap.
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