Scrapping Manchester leg of HS2 holds political risks for Rishi Sunak
by Helen Pidd North of England editor from World news | The Guardian on (#6F16N)
PM would need to offer voters in the north of England an alternative. Whether they believe him is another matter
It was on Halloween almost 10 years ago that MPs voted to spend 37.5bn on building a high-speed railway line from London to Birmingham, with spurs to Manchester and Leeds. Three hundred and fifty voted aye and 34 against.
Rishi Sunak did not follow the party whip that day; he was still working for a hedge fund in California. Nor did Keir Starmer. It was his last day as director of public prosecutions, and two years before he would be elected as a Labour MP. David Cameron was the prime minister and claimed the new railway lines would be finished by 2033.
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