The Business Travel Association has slated the expected cancellation of the northern leg of HS2, which had originally been planned to link Manchester with London via Birmingham.
Prime minister Rishi Sunak is expected to announce at the Conservative Party conference during his speech on Wednesday (October 4) that the northern leg of the high-speed rail link will be axed.
Clive Wratten, BTA chief executive, said scrapping the Manchester leg is a “deplorable act of carelessness on behalf of the government”.
“Cancelling the key northern hub makes a mockery of the levelling-up agenda,” said Wratten.
“Once again, connected business travel across the UK is sacrificed by those in power negligent of the needs of those outside London.
“We are on the verge of a climate crisis. Car hire is 22% up. Domestic air travel has increased. Rail is no longer the first choice.
“Continuous capacity challenges are forcing up costs, with service issues a consistent kick in the teeth to business travellers.
“All rail infrastructure projects must be protected through investment. Travellers need a reliable and efficient alternative. We challenge you: without HS2, what will that alternative be?”
Speaking to the BBC’s Breakfast programme on Tuesday morning, Sunak was repeatedly asked about what was going to happen to the northern leg of HS2.
“There’s lots of speculation but all I can say is I’m not going to be forced into a premature decision because it’s good for someone’s TV programme,” he said.
“And what I want to do is make the right decision for the country. This is an enormous amount of people’s money, taxpayers’ money. We shouldn’t be rushed into things like that.”