The Conservative mayor for the West Midlands has decided not to quit the party over HS2, after the prime minister confirmed he was scrapping the high-speed rail line from Birmingham to Manchester.
Andy Street had lobbied heavily to keep the northern leg of the project, and a spokesperson said on Wednesday morning he might quit if his campaign was unsuccessful.
However, Street announced on Wednesday afternoon that he would not resign and would instead work on a compromise solution with Rishi Sunak.
In a statement posted online, the mayor said: “I have always said that I would put place before party, and staying as a Conservative to work with the prime minister and his government to continue the revival of the West Midlands is doing exactly that.”
He added: “The PM said emphatically today that the Manchester leg of HS2 was cancelled, but delusion or not, I believe through this work a high-speed link between Birmingham and Manchester can be revived … do not forget that HS2 was never meant to reach Manchester until 2041, and I am convinced we can find a way to get back on track.”
His decision will provide welcome relief for Sunak after 72 hours that were dominated by speculation over the future of HS2 and how other Tories might react if it was scrapped.
The prime minister confirmed during his conference speech in Manchester on Wednesday that the high-speed line to Manchester would not go ahead, and that the £36bn allocated would be spent on other transport projects.
Sunak said: “Given how far along construction is, we will complete the line from Birmingham to Euston, and yes, HS2 trains will still run here to Manchester and journey times will be cut between Manchester, Birmingham, London by 30 minutes.”
However, he said HS2 trains would not run at high speeds beyond Birmingham, in effect cancelling the northern leg.
Sunak specifically addressed Street’s complaints, saying: “I say this to Andy Street, a man I have huge admiration and respect for: I know we have different views on HS2, but I also know we can work together to ensure a faster, stronger spine, quicker trains and more capacity between Birmingham and Manchester.”
Street had spent a considerable amount of time over the last few weeks trying to persuade the PM to change his mind on HS2, even putting together a consortium of contractors who said they would be able to cut their costs to allow the project to proceed.
The mayor said on Tuesday: “The prime minister and I spoke last week about the difficulty, and I understand his difficulty and I said I would help him find a solution.”
However, it became clear on Wednesday morning that his lobbying efforts had failed, as Grant Shapps confirmed the line from Birmingham to Manchester would be upgraded, but not enough to count as high-speed.
The defence secretary told BBC Breakfast: “HS2 trains will run to Manchester, so they’ll still come into Manchester Piccadilly, they’ll still run to Leeds, there will still be a much faster journey time than there has been in the past.
“And not just because some of the section will be actually conventional high-speed, or new high-speed rail, but also because even the older section can have further upgrades to, for example, its digital infrastructure, which is the way the signalling works.”
When Shapps was transport secretary he was an enthusiastic backer of the scheme. Asked by the BBC’s Nick Robinson why he had changed his mind, he replied “coronavirus”, saying the pandemic had reduced passenger numbers on the west coast mainline.
