It’s not often that Boris Johnson and David Cameron see eye to eye. The two former prime ministers have not really been on good terms with each other since their school days together at Eton, and their rivalry is so legendary that there are books about it. Things were particularly heated during the Brexit referendum, when Johnson opposed Cameron shortly before the vote in the hope of becoming prime minister himself. It is therefore remarkable that the two bickerers suddenly agree after decades of mutual dislike. And another Tory is to blame: Rishi Sunak.
The Prime Minister has caused a real storm of indignation with his decision to stop the expansion of the express train route from London to Manchester. High Speed 2 (HS2) was considered one of the most important infrastructure projects in Great Britain; it was intended to connect the economically weak north with the capital. But nothing will come of it, as Sunak announced at the annual meeting of his Conservative Party in Manchester on Wednesday. Contrary to plan, the high-speed trains will only run on new routes between London and Birmingham – and thus on a route that is already quite well developed.
Cameron, prime minister from 2010 to 2016, described Sunak’s decision as fundamentally wrong. HS2 had always been intended to unite the country, he wrote on the short message service X. By stopping construction, Sunak was throwing away a cross-party consensus that had lasted for 15 years. From Labor Prime Minister Gordon Brown to Tory Prime Minister Liz Truss, there was consensus that HS2 must be built. Cameron called this unity “historic” and added: “In the years to come many will look back (…) and wonder how this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity could have been lost.” Late on Wednesday evening, even Boris Johnson shared Cameron’s message and commented “I agree”. The Guardian headline on Thursday: “Sunak unleashes a Tory civil war”.
The anger is not only great in the Conservative Party. There is also massive criticism from the British economy. The head of the industry association CBI, Rain Newton-Smith, described Sunak’s decision as a “damaging signal” for the UK as a business location: “When company bosses around the world weigh up investment opportunities, the UK has always been considered a safe haven because of our reputation for reliability.” But this reliability now seems doubtful. TUC general secretary Paul Nowak said Sunak had “neither a plan nor a vision” to take the country forward.
The costs were out of control
The prime minister justified the construction freeze on HS2 primarily because of the high costs. These got out of control, as did the schedule. The opening of HS2 was originally planned for 2026, but that was recently considered completely unrealistic. The estimated costs had already risen from 33 billion pounds to 71 billion pounds (around 82 billion euros) in 2019, although not all plan sections were included in the total. Sunak now promised to invest “every single penny” saved by the construction freeze in hundreds of smaller projects. He announced the expansion of roads, bus routes and regional trains. 36 billion pounds (around 41.5 billion euros) are to be used for this.
For Sunak himself, stopping construction of HS2 represents a huge U-turn. He spoke out in favor of the project as recently as the summer of 2022, when he was fighting against Liz Truss for the office of Tory party leader. He even talked about expanding the express train route not only from Birmingham to Manchester, but also from Birmingham to Leeds. Now Sunak apparently believes that none of this is possible anymore. “The facts have changed,” said the Prime Minister during his speech in Manchester. By this he not only meant the construction costs, but also mentioned the changed behavior of business travelers after Corona. In his opinion, apparently not as many people want to take the train as before the pandemic. However, Sunak did not say how he came up with this.
The day after his speech, it’s not just statements like these that are causing criticism. But above all the fact that Sunak acted on Tuesday, the day before his speech, as if no decision had been made on HS2. However, this cannot be the truth, because shortly after Sunak’s speech, his social media team distributed videos showing the Prime Minister announcing the halt to construction of HS2. The videos were clearly recorded in Downing Street, before Sunak traveled to the Tory Party Conference in Manchester at the weekend.
In the videos, Sunak now praises what he calls “Network North”. However, there was no information on when the new bus and train lines should be ready. According to reports, things should move forward as quickly as possible, as there will be general elections next year. Sunak’s Tories are currently 15 to 20 percent behind Labor, depending on the poll. It remains to be seen whether the new “Network North” will help him reduce this gap. In any case, it looks as if Sunak doesn’t have a very good eye on the north. The government announced on Wednesday that it would extend the so-called Metrolink route in Manchester to the airport. The thing is: the route already exists, it opened in 2014. It was only when the malice on social networks grew that the Ministry of Transport clarified that this was an extension to airport Terminal 2 – and not the existing route to Terminal 1.