£600m of public money spent buying up property in north of England for HS2

A farm in Cheshire in the path of the proposed HS2 rail line from Crewe into Manchester that now looks to be in doubt. Photograph: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian

Almost £600m of public money has already been spent buying up land and properties for HS2 in the north of England, despite uncertainty that the train line will ever get beyond Birmingham.

Rishi Sunak repeatedly refused to commit to bringing HS2 to Manchester on Thursday, amid concerns that the project’s cost could exceed £100bn, three times the original estimate.