The Prime Minister insisted on Thursday that he could be trusted to deliver change for Britain after a ferocious backlash from predecessors and northern leaders against his decision to curtail HS2.
Rishi Sunak’s claims to “honesty and integrity” outlined at the Conservative conference in Manchester were called into question after it emerged that he had filmed a social media video to announce the high-speed rail decision days ago - while insisting in public that a decision was yet to come.
Challenged over the HS2 timeline, Transport Secretary Mark Harper told Sky News: “I have the legal responsibility to take the decision. And I took the decision formally on Tuesday this week, and it was approved by the Cabinet on Wednesday morning and then announced by the Prime Minister at our conference, so all very straightforward.
“And I don’t really know why people are getting so het up with this particular issue.”
In his keynote speech ending the annual Tory rally, Mr Sunak confirmed he was cancelling the leg of HS2 from Birmingham to Manchester, but recommitted to its London terminus in Euston and said he would plough £36 billion into other northern transport projects.
Pressed on why voters should trust him now after U-turns on HS2 and net zero goals, the PM told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “This is about leadership. I’ve been Prime Minister for less than a year.
“The choice at the next election is between me and Keir Starmer. I’m the person that’s doing politics differently, I’m the person making big decisions that are going to change our country for the future,” he said.
“I’m someone who delivers,” Mr Sunak added, claiming the mantle of “change” despite 13 years of rule by the Tories and defending two other flagship policy changes announced in the speech - a progressive ban on smoking and the scrapping of A Levels for a new school qualification.
I am cancelling the rest of the HS2 project.
— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) October 4, 2023
In its place we’ll reinvest every single penny, £36 billion, into hundreds of transport projects in the North, Midlands, and across the country.
Here’s why 👇 pic.twitter.com/0GPdsqNS1E
The smoking reform has been attacked by Tory libertarians including Liz Truss, who said she would vote against it in the House of Commons. Questions meanwhile surround the A Levels plan with the new ”Advanced British Standard” requiring a recruitment drive to find more teachers.
But the revised HS2 plan is drawing the biggest backlash, with criticism from Tory former premier David Cameron and ex-chancellor George Osborne among others.
“They’re absolutely entitled to their opinion. I worked closely with both of them in government and was very proud to serve with them. But that was a number of years ago,” Mr Harper said, adding: “The facts have changed, the costs of the project have escalated, the patterns of travel have changed post-pandemic.”
In a tweet that was liked by former premier Boris Johnson, Mr Cameron wrote that curtailing HS2 represented the loss of a “once-in-a-generation opportunity.”
West Midlands Tory mayor Andy Street said he came “close” to resigning after he was “confronted” by No10 two weeks ago with “out of the blue” plans to shorten the railway.
The Labour mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, claimed Tory promises to the north of England had only been aimed to “win votes”, and West Yorkshire mayor Tracy Brabin accused Mr Sunak of “pure electioneering” after his transport announcements.
Labour insists it cannot make a decision on HS2 itself until it can examine the full state of Government finances, should it win power next year.
But the party’s room for manoeuvre may be limited after the Department for Transport confirmed that land previously earmarked for the scrapped HS2 routes will not be protected for potential future expansion of the high-speed railway.
Railway consultant William Barter described the decision as “ludicrous” and an act of “spite”.
In the meantime, Labour is mocking Chancellor Jeremy Hunt by flagging up previous remarks he made on HS2 while a backbencher.
Mr Hunt tweeted in February 2020: “No HS2 = no ambition for our country just when the whole world is looking at us. Now is a time to be AMBITIOUS.”
Highlighting the post, shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves wrote: “How’s it going, Jeremy?”
