In a damning report into the mismanagement of the high-speed rail line, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) claimed the handling of the project risked causing “reputational damage” to the UK.
The decision by then-prime minister Rishi Sunak sparked uproar, and the PAC has said that the Government must now set out how it intends to address “future West Coast Main Line capacity issues and rail connectivity in the North” in its six-monthly update to Parliament on HS2.
The report adds that the Government “must not waste” its latest opportunity to reset the project after years of cancellations, delays and spiralling costs.
“It is unacceptable that over a decade into the programme we still do not know what it will cost, what the final scope will be, when it will finally be completed or what benefits it will deliver,” the report states.
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Read More“This is likely to have wasted billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money in delays and overspends.”
The Northern Powerhouse Partnership is urging the Government to retable crucial HS2 legislation to allow work to begin to improve connections from Manchester right through to Newcastle.
Henri Murison, chief executive of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, said the so-called Hybrid Bill, which was paused after HS2 north of Birmingham was axed, must be restarted to allow a new line between Manchester airport and Piccadilly, which he described as a “first step of new infrastructure through and on towards Bradford, Leeds and cities beyond including Hull and Newcastle”.
Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe, leader of Bradford Council, warned the Government must not “lose momentum”.
Labour MP for Heywood and Middleton North, Elise Blundell, called on the Government to “seize this moment and ensure that people across the Manchester city region benefit from the promise of Northern Powerhouse Rail, from HS2 and from this Government’s bold plans to transform transport across this country”.
“He is taking decisive action to get the project back on track at the lowest feasible cost.”
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