The shadow rail minister defended the decision despite conceding the location chosen for the announcement was quite peculiar
16:50, 06 Oct 2025Updated 17:10, 06 Oct 2025
(Image: Getty Images)
The Conservatives’ shadow rail minister has admitted that cancelling the Northern leg of HS2 in Manchester two years ago was ‘very odd’. However, the Tory MP, Jerome Mayhew has defended that decision as ‘rationally’ right.
Speaking at a rail industry event at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester on Sunday (October 5), Mr Mayhew said businesses in the sector ‘filled their boots’ and made an ‘absolute fortune’ from the Southern leg of the high-speed rail project which is still going ahead. And he argued that the experience of the first phase of the project, which has gone massively over-budget, has ‘inoculated’ politicians from pursuing other big projects.
His comments came two years after former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced the cancellation of the second phase of HS2 at the party’s conference in Manchester. The decision was announced in his keynote speech, which was delivered at the former Manchester Central train station, after weeks of speculation over the future of Phase 2.
The high-speed line which is under construction between London and Birmingham was supposed to continue to Manchester. But the Northern leg of the scheme was cancelled with the £36bn saved to be spent on other projects.
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Asked for his reflections on the decision two years on, the shadow rail minister said: “It’s a very odd place to choose to make that announcement, to come all the way up to Manchester to announce the cancelling of HS2. But I think rationally it was the right decision bearing in mind our experience of what happened to the first tranche of HS2.”
He added: “Lots of members of the industry have made an absolute fortune out of the first tranche of HS2, not helped by terrible contract negotiation by the Department for Transport.
“And what they’ve done is they’ve filled their boots, it’s cost an absolute fortune, and one of the consequences is that it has inoculated an entire generation of politicians from ever wanting to do it again.
“That is terrible because sometimes you need big infrastructure projects in order to get the big results that you require.”
The event was organised by the Rail Industry Association, Urban Transport Group and Total Politics(Image: Alan Hamer)
The Norfolk MP went on to argue that saving £36bn on HS2 meant that existing infrastructure could be improved.
However, he admitted that the benefits of investing in big infrastructure projects are greater if you ‘do all of it’.
It comes several months after Chancellor Rachel Reeves committed to building Northern Powerhouse Rail – a new train line across the North of England – but did not say what it would include with the details yet to be announced.
Mr Mayhew said: “The real value for Northern Powerhouse Rail, if you look at the analysis, is that you get the sort two and a half, three times benefit if you do all of it.
“But the lesson that politicians, I’m afraid, have learnt and are learning from the first tranche of HS2 is we can’t do it properly and therefore it’s just going to be an enormous white elephant.”
Responding to Mr Mayhew’s comments, a government source said: “This is a pretty breathtaking alternative history from a Conservative transport spokesperson who would rather blame others for his party’s mistakes than grow up and take responsibility.
“Unlike our Conservative predecessors, we are acting to call time on the spiralling costs and ineffective contracts of HS2 following years of mismanagement, which is why the Transport Secretary has ordered a full reset to get the project back on track.
“This includes working with HS2 Ltd on renegotiating the Conservative’s botched large construction contracts to ensure taxpayer money is being spent in the most effective way and we get the job done.”