How much HS2 cost and when did work start to build it

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak is set to announce the Manchester to Birmingham leg of High Speed 2 (HS2) is to be scrapped.

Mr Sunak is expected to make the announcement in his speech during the final day of the Conservative Party conference in Manchester on Wednesday afternoon.

The decision to axe the northern rail route - which would connect Manchester with Birmingham, and on to central London - has been heavily reported prior to Mr Sunak's speech.

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Ahead of his conference speech, Mr Sunak said on Tuesday the costs of the project had gone “far beyond” what had been predicted, and the sums involved were “enormous”.

The HS2 scheme was given a budget of £55.7 billion in 2015 but costs have ballooned, with an estimate of up to £98 billion – in 2019 prices – in 2020.

Since then, soaring inflation will have pushed costs even higher.

The high-speed, north-south line from Manchester to London via Birmingham and Crewe would be built over decades in phases. Phase '2b' would connect Crewe to Manchester, with the High Speed Rail (Crewe-Manchester) Bill submitted to Parliament last January.

In February, the Government announced it would pause work at Euston as costs for a redesigned HS2 station with fewer platforms had ballooned to £4.8 billion compared with an initial budget of £2.6 billion.

HS2 trains are now not expected to run into Euston until 2041 at the earliest after initially being scheduled for 2026.

The project has already been cut back north of Birmingham, with a planned eastern spur to be built to Leeds now set to stop in the East