Pruning HS2 cuts short-term costs but loses bigger long-term benefits

Reports that the line could permanently stop at Old Oak Common, not Euston, would mean even less value for money from HS2

There is only so long that you can prune the branches of a major infrastructure project. Now the government is - according to swiftly denied reports - considering hacking away at the roots of HS2.

Much has already faded from the grand vision that was first unveiled in 2009 and confirmed as effectively cross-party policy in 2012 - most notably the north-eastern leg of the original Y-shaped high-speed rail network linking London, Manchester and Leeds. But most of the cropping back to date has been lines on a map - not sites that have been worked on for years.