Rishi Sunak accused of making up fake roads in bid to distract from …

Rishi Sunak^[1] has been accused of making up fake roads in a bid to distract from his HS2^[2] shambles.

Labour^[3]’s Lou Haigh warned that jobs will be lost because of the PM’s decision to cancel the high speed line to Manchester. In the Commons, the Shadow Transport Secretary urged the Tories to “finally accept this is a Government at the end of the line”.

The PM announced at the Tory party conference that he was axing a massive part of HS2 after the scheme had more than doubled in cost. The line, which was originally due to connect Manchester and Leeds with London, will now only run between Birmingham and the capital.

Mr Sunak claimed that changes to HS2 would save £36billion with the cash going to alternative road and rail schemes across the country. But Ms Haigh warned that many of the projects “have already been built, have already been announced [or] do not exist”.

Listing some of the examples, she said: “An extension of Manchester’s tram link to the airport – a project which opened nine years ago. A ‘brand new rail station for Bradford’ – a project which has been scrapped and reinstated by three Tory Prime Ministers in a row. And an upgrade to the A259 to Southampton – a route that does not exist.”

She went on: “The consequences of this shambles are no joke – they are profound. There will be SMEs (small and medium enterprises) that have bet the house on HS2. People will lose their jobs this side of the General Election^[4] as a result of this decision.

"Homes, farms, businesses all sold, the countryside carved up. Euston is a hole in the ground. And for what? He’s wasted £45bn on a line between Old Oak Common and Birmingham that no one asked for and has no business case. Only in Conservative-run Britain could a high-speed train hit the slow coach lane the second it hits the North.”

Earlier in the day, Mr Sunak told journalists that the "facts have changed" on the high-speed rail project, before adding: "It is right to have the courage to change direction and that is what I've done on that project. I think it is the right thing to do. Not an easy decision, but the right long-term one for our country."

References

1. ^{^} Rishi Sunak (www.mirror.co.uk)
2. ^{^} HS2 (www.mirror.co.uk)
3. ^{^} Labour (www.mirror.co.uk)
4. ^{^} General Election (www.mirror.co.uk)
5. ^{^} Join our Mirror Politics WhatsApp community for all the latest from Westminster (www.mirror.co.uk)