Henri Murison, the chief executive of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, said: “It is madness to leave what was meant to be the UK’s flagship infrastructure project like this. And of course now it’s become a debate about Britain’s credibility as a place to invest.” Speaking from the entrance of the hotel where Sunak is staying, Street said: “This has become a debate about Britain’s ability to do the tough stuff successfully, as previous generations of Britons certainly did. Some of the most vocal criticism came from Andy Street, the Conservative mayor for the West Midlands, who told reporters the prime minister was in danger of “cancelling the future”. October 2023 The prime minister prepares to confirm he is scrapping the northern leg to Manchester, with the announcement expected to be made at the Conservative party conference in the city.As leaked details of the U-turn threatened to derail the conference, Sunak came under fire from politicians and business executives, who accused him of abandoning the government’s commitment to levelling up. September 2023 A document, snapped by a photographer outside the Treasury, triggered rumours that Sunak could scrap the western spur up to Manchester. The project may need rescoping and/or its overall viability reassessed.” The Infrastructure and Projects Authority warns of “major issues with project definition, schedule, budget, quality and/or benefits delivery, which at this stage do not appear to be manageable or resolvable. July 2023 HS2 is described as “unachievable” by the government’s infrastructure watchdog. June 2023 In its six-monthly HS2 update, the government says services between Birmingham Curzon Street and Old Oak Common should begin between 20, with services to Manchester at some point between 20. This means HS2 services will start and stop at Old Oak Common, six miles west of Euston in central London, until at least the 2040s. Work at Euston is paused as costs have ballooned to £4.8bn compared with an initial budget of £2.6bn. March 2023 The government announces that construction of the Birmingham to Crewe leg of HS2 will be delayed by two years. Railway workers and trains at Old Oak Common in west London. January 2022 The bill for Phase 2b, extending HS2 to Manchester, is laid in parliament. The route remains “safeguarded” in case a future government decides to fund the project. November 2021 Grant Shapps, the transport secretary, scraps the eastern leg from Birmingham to Leeds. June 2021 Concerns over HS2 are a significant issue in a shock byelection defeat for the Tories, as the Liberal Democrats win in Chesham and Amersham, Buckinghamshire. January 2021 Environmentalists dig a network of tunnels in Euston Square Gardens, London, resulting in a complex operation to remove them. September 2020 Construction formally begins on Hs2, starting with the London-Birmingham leg. May 2020 HS2 has gone “badly off course”, says the powerful public accounts committee of parliament, with MPs questioning why HS2’s chief executive was paid a £46,000 bonus on top of his £605,350 salary – the highest of any government official. Photograph: Eddie Keogh/AFP/Getty Imagesįebruary 2020 The prime minister, Boris Johnson, pledges to build HS2 despite costs allegedly rising to £106bn, according to the Oakervee review of the project. January 2020 Cost estimates for completing all three phases of the HS2 network increased from £72bn to £98bn (in 2019 prices).īoris Johnson during a visit to Curzon Street railway station in Birmingham, central England. September 2019 A report by the HS2 Ltd chair, Allan Cook, says the railway may not be completed until 2040 and could cost £88bn. July 2017 HS2 Ltd accepts it was a “serious error” to make £1.8m of unauthorised redundancy payments to staff. It later emerges that engineers had worked off old maps that were made before 2011, when construction on Shimmer’s 212 houses began. July 2016 The route of HS2’s eastern leg is published and includes plans for the trains to cut right through the brand new Shimmer housing estate in Mexborough, near Doncaster. June 2016 The National Audit Office warns HS2 is under financial strain and could be delayed by a year. The government claims every £1 invested in HS2 will deliver benefits worth more than £2.50 to the UK economy: a total of more than £103bn. November 2015 Costs are revised up to £55.7bn. The then chancellor George Osborne uses a thermal-imaging gun during a visit to the site in Crewe to which HS2 trains will run, in November 2015.
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