Rishi Sunak to pledge billions for road schemes in bid to sugarcoat HS2 betrayal
Rishi Sunak will try to sugarcoat his HS2 betrayal by promising to spend billions on other road and rail projects next week.
In a bid to dampen criticism, the PM will unveil plans for a spending bonanza at Conservative Party conference. Mr Sunak faces accusations he is doing the dirty on the North by cancelling the leg of the high speed rail line to Manchester.
It had been claimed that he could hold off announcing the decision until the Autumn Statement in November to avoid a backlash at the conference, which is being held in the city. But the Mirror understands he is now likely to confirm the cancellation next week at the same time as he promises a huge package of transport spending.
Boris Johnson, who as PM cancelled the eastern leg of HS2 to Leeds, criticised the latest scaling back of the project. In his Daily Mail column, he wrote: “Cancel HS2? Cut off the northern legs? We must be out of our minds… If we truncate HS2 - then we are betraying the north of the country and the whole agenda of levelling up.”
Labour today mocked Mr Sunak for posing as a “friend of motorists” despite allowing roads to become plagued by potholes on his watch. Shadow Transport Secretary Louise Haigh said that between 2020 and 2023 - during which he was either Chancellor or Prime Minister for all but four months - the road maintenance budget plunged by 24%. The Labour frontbencher said this was “enough to fill 8.7 million potholes”.
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She added: “This giant Tory pothole lined up side by side would stretch from London to John O’Groats and back again.” The PM is preparing to make it harder for English councils to introduce 20mph speed limits - days after they were imposed on lots of roads in Wales.
He wants to curtail local authorities’ powers to lower the driving speed, as well as restricting the number of hours a day that cars are banned from bus lanes, and scale back low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs). The plan also involves reducing the ability of local authorities to impose fines from traffic offences such as the misuse of yellow box junctions.
Mr Sunak pledged in July to crack down on "anti-motorist" policies following the Tories’ shock by-election victory in Uxbridge and South Ruislip, West London. The campaign was dominated by the row over London's ultra low emission zone (Ulez) expansion, spearheaded by Labour Mayor Sadiq Khan.
But Ms Haigh said that “after 13 years of desperate failure, the Prime Minister’s words are just like our roads - full of holes”. She added: “Rishi Sunak desperately poses as the 'friend of motorists' but he cannot hide from 13 years of Tory failure which has hammered drivers. Petrol prices have soared, insurance costs rocketed and our roads are in a shocking state. Our 'inaction man' Prime Minister has delivered none of his promises to tackle Britain's pothole crisis.”
Mr Sunak was also criticised by the chief executives of six walking and cycling organisations. The bosses of the Bikeability Trust, British Cycling, Cycling UK, Living Streets, Ramblers and Sustrans said in a joint statement: "When ministers could be promoting public transport, cycling and walking as cheap sustainable options in a cost-of-living and climate crisis, they're entrenching congestion and reliance on driving for short, local journeys.”
Earlier this month, Wales became the first UK nation to cut the default speed limit from 30mph to 20mph for restricted roads.
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