Closing summary
Today’s blog is coming to a close. Thank you for joining us. Below is a roundup of today’s stories:
Grant Shapps said any government that doesn’t look again at its transport plans after the Covid-19 pandemic “is acting outside the reality of the situation”, when asked about signs Rishi Sunak may be ready to scrap the northern section of the HS2 high-speed rail line before the Conservative conference opens in Manchester next weekend. Shapps said: “You’ve also got to realise that in the time coronavirus happened, people stopped travelling entirely for a while and haven’t gotten back to the normal patterns of travel. Any government that doesn’t then look at their plans and resequence them is I’m afraid acting outside the reality of the situation.”
Darren Jones, the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, said Labour was “not going to make decisions about national interest projects that involve tens of billions of pounds without all of the information being available”. He added: “When the government makes a decision and publishes the information, we will consider that properly and announce it in a professional way.”
Donald Trump has expressed his approval of Rishi Sunak’s decision to delay a series of measures aimed at curbing emissions. Trump, who formally withdrew the US from the Paris climate agreement in 2020, said: “I always knew Sunak was smart.”
Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, has said people in the north of England are treated like “second-class citizens when it comes to transport”. Commenting on the government’s potential move to scrap the Manchester leg of HS2, Burnham said: “London never has to choose between a north-south line and an east-west line and good public transport within the city. Why is it that people in the north are always forced to choose, why are we always treated as second-class citizens when it comes to transport?
Updated
Our north of England editor Helen Pidd has written an analysis of the political risks involved with scrapping the HS2 Manchester leg.
