The Mancunian Way: HS2 axed for ‘Network North’

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So after days of dithering, the Prime Minister has announced that the Manchester leg of HS2 HAS been cancelled.

Instead, Rishi Sunak has today announced plans for a new ‘Network North’ which he claims will improve connectivity in the region. He says the £36 billion that would have been invested on HS2 will now be spent on ‘hundreds’ of new transport projects in the north and elsewhere of the country.

Among the headline promises is a claim that passengers will be able to travel between Manchester and a new Bradford station in 30 mins, to Sheffield in 42 mins and to Hull in 84 minutes on ‘a fully electrified line’.

Mr Sunak also says the government will ‘protect the £12 billion to link up Manchester and Liverpool as planned’, deliver a new tram system in Leeds, pledge £3.3 billion for road resurfacing and nearly £4 billion more for local transport in city regions.

But leaders here in Greater Manchester are yet to be convinced. And they’re extremely fed up with being locked out of conversations that affect the region so massively.

"It's no way to treat this city when you're in this city,” Andy Burnham insisted as he stood beneath the lights of the Central Library during a hastily convened press conference last night. (Don’t forget hastily convened press conferences are the mayor’s speciality.)

And during another presser outside the Museum of Science and Industry this afternoon, Mr Burnham said the Prime Minister does not have ‘a coherent plan' that would deliver the Northern Powerhouse Rail in full to Leeds.

Mr Burnham said