The HS2 high-speed rail line is at risk of further cuts to its route north of Birmingham as the government considers whether it can afford high-cost projects in advance of the autumn budget.
The project has been mired in fresh uncertainty after the prime minister’s spokesperson refused to guarantee on Thursday it would run to Manchester, after publication of a photographed document suggesting further cuts were under discussion.
Before the chancellor’s autumn statement on 22 November, Rishi Sunak and the chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, have attended meetings to discuss spending plans, including whether high-profile commitments such as HS2 and the pensions triple lock are sustainable if stringent fiscal rules are to be met.
The photograph appeared to show Sunak and Hunt were meeting to discuss a total £34.1bn expenditure listed for the second phase of the railway from Birmingham to Manchester and the east Midlands.
While Downing Street said the government was “committed to HS2”, the PM’s spokesperson would not confirm that HS2 would extend to Manchester, under repeated questioning at a briefing on Thursday.
He said: “We are committed to HS2, to the project. We are looking at the rephasing of the work in the best interests of taxpayers and travellers.”
He said he could not “comment on speculation about a leaked document”, adding: “It is standard process for departments to discuss the phasing of major projects like HS2. We have already announced that previously and building work is taking place. Spades are already in the ground on the Hs2 programme and we are already focused on delivering it.”
The government announced in March that construction on parts of HS2 would be put on hold for two years and the overall timetable would be delayed, meaning trains to Manchester would not arrive until almost a decade later than originally promised.
Although HS2 bosses have not been asked to provide new figures or draw up more potential cuts, the photograph, first reported by the Independent, provoked anger with the suggestion that further cuts were under consideration.
The Greater Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham, tweeted: “The southern half of England gets a modern rail system and the North left with Victorian infrastructure. Levelling up? My a**e.”
A spokesperson for the High-Speed Rail Group said: “Were phase 2 to be cancelled it would be a disaster for the north and the Midlands. After 13 years during which the government has promoted the project, it would also be the ultimate U-turn.
“The government needs to kill the speculation and make its intentions clear, and it ought to commit clearly and unambiguously to delivering the project as planned.”
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Henri Murison, chief executive of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, said curtailing HS2 any further “would do serious damage to the government’s relationship with the business community, both northern-based businesses and inward investors, who have made long-term investment decisions based on previous promises”.
He added: “Given that phase 1, the most expensive bit of the route, is already under way and that the strongest benefit-cost ratios are found in the northern sections, it makes no sense to stop now.”
The cost of HS2 has escalated, partly because of high inflation in wages and building materials, although supporters have said that delay, indecision and reviews have also piled on added cost.
There have already been big cuts to the project’s overall specification, with the north-eastern leg to Leeds pruned and still under review, and trains running to Old Oak Common in north-west London, rather than the promised Euston terminus, if and when services begin.