Labour could revive HS2 northern legs after government fails to sell off land

Sources say land bought for train route north of Birmingham unlikely to be sold before polls - paving way for project's revival

A Labour government will have the option of reviving the northern legs of the HS2 rail project, after it emerged it is very unlikely that any land bought by the government for the route will be sold off before the election.

Keir Starmer has resisted calls to recommit to the northern phase of the project, surprisingly axed by Rishi Sunak in his Tory conference speech last year. The Labour leader has partly blamed the fact that the government was already releasing land between Birmingham and Manchester" bought up for the route.