Sunak scraps HS2 northern link with pledge to revive local transport plans Tories tore up

Rishi Sunak has been accused of the "biggest and most damaging U-turn in the history of UK infrastructure" by scrapping the northern leg of HS2, with a promise to divert £36bn into transport in the Midlands and north.

- Gwyn Topham, Kiran Stacey, Pippa Crerar

Critics said the prime minister's new "Network North" plan included schemes that were already under way or where funding was expected, as well as long-touted projects paused or cancelled under Sunak as chancellor or prime minister. Money due for HS2 will now be spent on road schemes frozen six months ago.

Sunak said the "facts have changed" and it was time to ditch the high-speed rail project between Birmingham and Manchester in the face of spiralling costs, insisting that the regions would benefit from equal or more spending on local transport projects under the new plan.

Sunak confirmed that, contrary to some fears, the HS2 line would continue into central London, but ending at a scaled-down Euston station.

He promised £9.6bn would be reinvested in the Midlands, including the Midlands Rail Hub project and an extra £1bn in funding for the West Midlands city region - whose Conservative mayor, Andy Street, had earlier indicated he might quit if HS2 was cut back.

About £3bn of the £19.8bn for the north from scrapping the second phases of HS2 would be spent on electrifying rail lines, with £2bn going on a new station and Manchester rail link in Bradford, and £2.5bn for West Yorkshire including the Leeds tram.

He pledged an additional £12bn funding to allow rail links to still be built between Manchester and Liverpool - part of the scrapped HS2 plan - which would allow a Northern Powerhouse Rail to go ahead, but said the government would ask local leaders if that was how they wished to spend the money.