![Pinterest](https://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=https://uknews.evprotec.com/emergency-cabinet-meeting-expected-as-pm-drops-biggest-hint-yet-hell-axe-hs2-to-north/&media=https://uknews.evprotec.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/1_Conservative-Party-Conference-Day-3-Manchester-UK-03-Oct-2023.jpg&description=The Prime Minister is set to order a Cabinet meeting where top Tories are expected to formally sign the death warrant for plans to run the high speed line to Manchester Rishi Sunak is preparing to trigger an emergency Cabinet meeting to formally scrap HS2s northern leg. Dropping his biggest hint yet the route from Birmingham to Manchester will be axed, the Prime Minister said the high speed railway's costs had gone "far beyond" what was predicted and the sums involved were "enormous". He told Times Radio: "It's clear that the costs of this programme has escalated far beyond what anyone thought at the beginning. "I know there's lots of speculation on it, but what I would say is I'll approach this in the same way I approach everything in this job, I will take the time to look at it properly, get across the detail and then decide what's right for the country. The sums involved are enormous and it's right that the Prime Minister takes proper care over it. It's obviously not my money - it's taxpayers' money and we should make the right decisions on these things." Mr Sunak is expected to order Cabinet ministers to attend an emergency meeting on the fringes of the Conservative Party conference in Manchester. The PM, Transport Secretary Mark Harper and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt have refused to comment on reports they will ditch the 225mph line from Birmingham to Manchester. Asked whether he had given up on HS2, Mr Sunak told the BBC: "Absolutely not. We have got spades on the ground on HS2 as we speak and we're getting on and delivering it. But it's not the only thing we're doing to help spread opportunity and level-up around the country." The boss of one of the companies involved in building HS2 has said it would be a "waste of money" if the line from Birmingham terminates at Old Oak Common instead of Euston in central London as originally planned. Mark Reynolds, chief executive of Mace Group, which is building a new station in Birmingham and also in London Euston - if that p){kind=link}
The Prime Minister is set to order a Cabinet meeting where top Tories are expected to formally sign the death warrant for plans to run the high speed line to Manchester
Rishi Sunak is preparing to trigger an emergency Cabinet meeting to formally scrap HS2s northern leg.
Dropping his biggest hint yet the route from Birmingham to Manchester will be axed, the Prime Minister said the high speed railway’s costs had gone “far beyond” what was predicted and the sums involved were “enormous”. He told Times Radio: “It’s clear that the costs of this programme has escalated far beyond what anyone thought at the beginning.
“I know there’s lots of speculation on it, but what I would say is I’ll approach this in the same way I approach everything in this job, I will take the time to look at it properly, get across the detail and then decide what’s right for the country. The sums involved are enormous and it’s right that the Prime Minister takes proper care over it. It’s obviously not my money – it’s taxpayers’ money and we should make the right decisions on these things.”
Mr Sunak is expected to order Cabinet ministers to attend an emergency meeting on the fringes of the Conservative Party conference in Manchester. The PM, Transport Secretary Mark Harper and Chancellor Jeremy Hunt have refused to comment on reports they will ditch the 225mph line from Birmingham to Manchester.