Andy Burnham: Scrapping HS2 treats people like 'second class citizens'

The Prime Minister told the Conservative party’s conference, taking place in Manchester, that the HS2 project’s costs had “more than doubled”.

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The prime minister announced the decision at the Conservative party conference in Manchester (Image: PA)

He said: “I say to those who backed the project in the first place, the facts have changed.

“And the right thing to do when the facts change is to have the courage to change direction.”

As part of a drive to create a new northern network, he pledged to invest in a raft of other transport schemes.

“I am ending this long-running saga. I am cancelling the rest of the HS2 project and in its place, we will reinvest every single penny, £36 billion, in hundreds of new transport projects in the North and the Midlands, across the country.

“This means £36 billion of investment in the projects that will make a real difference across our nation.”

Andy Burnham had previously rallied with other metro mayors to try and save the northern leg (Image: PA)
In response, Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham said there was "frustration and anger" about the decision to scrap the northern leg of high speed rail.

Mr Burnham said: "It always seems that people here where I live and where I kind of represent can be treated as second class citizens when it comes to transport.

"It just proves there's still so many people in politics, many of them in the Tory party, that think they can treat the north of England differently to the way they treat other parts of the country it's just so wrong."

Speaking to the PA News Agency, Mr Burnham added: "You may remember, almost 10 years ago, George Osborne came to the building just beyond here to tap into that spirit that the north of England had in the nineteenth century of pioneering and bringing new developments to the world.

"[He said] that he would bring forward a northern powerhouse that would be all about that ambition again for Britain, bringing north-south lines with HS2, east-west with HS3 as he called it then, that obviously became Northern Powerhouse Rail.

“I hope those statements weren’t made 10 years ago just with political intentions in mind, to try and win votes here, but it’s starting to look very much that was what it was all about.

“Does this country have the will, within it, to actually prioritise the north of England?”

Conservative MP for Leigh James Grundy has been approached for comment.