The UK government has refused to confirm whether it will go ahead with the planned HS2 high-speed rail link to Manchester.
Media reports have emerged that the government may not extend the HS2 line from Birmingham to Manchester as originally planned.
Transport minister Richard Holden would not answer direct questions from MPs on Monday (18 September) about the future of the Manchester part of the HS2 project, which is currently building a high-speed link between London and Birmingham.
The project has been hit by numerous delays and a ballooning budget, with the eastern leg of HS2 between the East Midlands and Leeds already scrapped two years ago. The cost of the scheme is now being estimated at up to £100 billion, compared with an original bill of £33 billion 10 years ago.
HS2 services are due to commence between West London’s Old Oak Common station and Birmingham Curzon Street in 2033 with the line later being extended to Euston station in central London. But there are also doubts over whether this high-speed extension to Euston will ever be built.
Holden refused to make any commitment to go ahead with the Manchester leg of HS2 and instead attacked the opposition Labour party’s policy on the high-speed rail line. Labour has committed to building HS2 “in full” if it wins the next general election.
“Spades are already in the ground for HS2 and we remain focused on its delivery,” Holden told the House of Commons.
“Construction continues in earnest, with about 350 active construction sites, and we are getting on with delivery, with high-speed rail services between London and Birmingham Curzon Street due to commence in 2033, with the rescoped stages following.”
While refusing to make any statement about the future of the Manchester section of HS2, Holden instead insisted that there was “no question of this government abandoning the north”.
“The government are hugely investing in the north of England - on rail, on roads, and indeed on our important bus network,” he said. “Ministers will continue to update the house regularly on HS2, as we have done throughout.”
But Labour’s shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh said the government was committing a "great rail betrayal".
“What started out as a modern infrastructure plan, left by the last Labour government, linking our largest northern cities will, after 13 years of Tory incompetence, waste and broken promises, have turned into a humiliating Conservative failure,” she added.
Business travel organisations, such as the Business Travel Association (BTA), have also previously hit out at delays to the HS2 project. Political commentator Steve Richards also emphasised that transport was "low down on the list" of political priorities when he spoke at the BTA conference in Antwerp last week.