Rishi Sunak confirms HS2 cancellation but announces electrification of North Wales Mainline

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has told the Conservative Party conference that he will halt the remaining phases of HS2, terminating the high-speed rail link between Birmingham and Manchester.

Sunak said the HS2 project would be replaced by a £36bn investment into hundreds of other projects, including the electrification of the North Wales Mainline, which runs from Chester to Holyhead.

In his first (and possibly last) conference speech as prime minister, he said: “What we really need is better transport connections in the north, a new network north that will join up our great towns and cities in the northern Midlands.”

“HS2 is the ultimate example of the old consensus. The result is a project whose costs have more than doubled, which has been repeatedly delayed, and it is not scheduled to reach Manchester for almost two decades. The economic case has massively weakened with the changes to business travel post-Covid.

“I say to those who backed the project in the first place: the facts have changed and the right thing to do when the facts change is to have the courage to change direction.”

Despite HS2 not physically touching Welsh soil, its ramifications certainly do.

It has been designated as a joint project between England and Wales by the UK government.

Consequently, Wales won’t receive additional transport funds, in contrast to Scotland and Northern Ireland.

According to the Welsh government’s calculations, if the project were reclassified as exclusive to England, Wales would be entitled to approximately £5bn, based on its population size.

This supplementary funding would come via the Barnett Formula, which determines the financial allocations the devolved governments receive from the Treasury.

Wales’ first minister, Mark Drakford, said it is clear “that HS2, or the remnants of it, is an England-only scheme. The UK Government now needs to step up and give Wales the money we are already owed from this failed project.”

North Wales Mainline

The UK government has said it will invest £1 billion to deliver the much-needed electrification of the North Wales Mainline.

Secretary of State for Wales, David TC Davies said: “Today’s announcement will unlock North Wales’ unique potential by transforming its economy and infrastructure.

“For too long, the people of North Wales have been ignored by an incompetent Labour Welsh Government in Cardiff Bay – but the UK Government is correcting that wrong.

“Under the Conservatives, North Wales is being given the attention it rightly deserves.”

Wales Office Minister Dr. James Davies added: “This is the culmination of many years of effective campaigning by myself and my Parliamentary colleagues, ably supported by Growth Track 360 (North Wales Mersey Dee Rail Taskforce).

“The investment will transform North Wales’ public transport infrastructure and provide substantial economic and social benefits.

“The North Wales Main Line is a vital part of the UK’s strategic transport network. That is why I warmly welcome today’s huge announcement.”

Plaid Cymru’s Westminster Leader, Liz Saville Roberts MP, said: “High-speed rail for London, crumbs from the table for Wales.

“Electrifying the North Wales Main line is set to receive around £1 billion. Plaid Cymru will not accept that this pledge replaces the more than £2 billion Wales should have already received in Barnett consequentials for the first phase of HS2.

“It’s only thanks to Plaid Cymru’s decade-long demand for Wales to receive our fair share from HS2 that Rishi Sunak now feels pressured to give empty promises of the most modest of benefits to Wales.

“We cannot believe a word the Conservatives have to say on electrification. For years, the Tories promised electrifying the south Wales line between Cardiff and Swansea, before it was scrapped.

“HS2 isn’t just an England-only scheme, it’s a London-only scheme. Wales should therefore receive full compensation for funding spent on the first phase so far, just as we did for Crossrail. The billions in funding that we’re owed would revolutionise our deteriorating transport infrastructure, restore our bus services, and significantly improve north-south connectivity in our nation.

“The only way to resolve this saga is to fully devolve rail infrastructure to Wales, transferring the billions owed through the Barnett formula. That would allow the people of Wales to choose how to invest in our nation.

“With Keir Starmer’s Labour Party refusing to make that commitment, only Plaid Cymru speaks for Wales.”

Laurence Turner, GMB Head of Research and Policy, said: “Rishi Sunak’s decision to inflict the biggest rail cut since the Beeching axe will send a shockwave through the construction industry and railway supply chain, costing hundreds of jobs.

“The UK’s political instability was already holding the economy back – it will now be even harder to fund and deliver the new infrastructure that the country desperately needs.

“We can’t rebalance the economy or fix the railway capacity crisis without HS2. It’s essential that the planned route is now protected so that a future government can reverse this disastrous decision.”