Network North? Government says cash from cancelled HS2 leg will go to... London

The government has revealed that it will use some of the cash saved from cancelling the Northern leg of HS2... to repair roads in London. Announcing that the high-speed railway line would no longer be coming to Manchester in October, the Prime Minister promised 'every penny' of the £36bn saved would be spent on transport projects 'in the North and the Midlands, across the country'.

Rishi Sunak used his keynote speech at the Conservative Party conference to set out his 'Network North' vision which included funding to upgrade and fully electrify existing train lines as well as building a new railway line between Manchester and Liverpool. But when the details of the government's proposals were published, it emerged that nearly a quarter of the money made available by cancelling the largest infrastructure project in the UK would be spent on fixing potholes - and most of it outside the North of England.

Last month, the government announced that Greater Manchester would receive around £300m for road repairs from the Network North pot. And today (December 20), the Department for Transport (DfT) set out how much of this funding would be given to London.

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Sharing the news on social media, the DfT revealed that £235m would be available to improve roads in London, 'made possible by rerouted HS2 funding'. The announcement on X, formerly Twitter, was accompanied by an image bearing the Network North logo.

Responding to the post on X, Greater Manchester mayor said: "“Network North” seems to include everywhere - except the North."

Rail expert Gareth Dennis