Sunak kills the Northern Powerhouse.

I suspect Freya (^NE bottom half^) is somewhere is the Middlesborough/ Teeside area where transport links are abysmal. In fact from Hull northwards there's no real infrastructure, things don't improve until you get to Newcastle.

Glorianny

I suspect Freya (^NE bottom half^) is somewhere is the Middlesborough/ Teeside area where transport links are abysmal. In fact from Hull northwards there's no real infrastructure, things don't improve until you get to Newcastle.

Much like Wrexham, Chester etc. if that’s the case Glorianny. Everybody thinks their issues are worse than for other people, when the reality is pretty dire for the majority in the north, and in Wales.

Casdon, exactly, it’s a pity to set northern regions against each other. We’re all facing the impact of austerity and lack of investment

MaizieD

^We can't even get a straight through to London, let alone anywhere else.^

Well, that's odd, Freya. I've lived in the NE for almost 40 years and I've always been able to get a train straight through to London, or Edinburgh, come to that.

Whereas travelling across country is not quite so simple.

I think Freya might mean the Eart Riding and Humberside which I referred to in another post. You could not get a straight train from Hull to York, Newcastle or Edinburgh when I lived there.

Casdon

Iam64

Freya5

AGAA4

According to Sunak people in the North are second class citizens. He has demolished levelling up by cancelling HS2 to Manchester.
I hope the people in the north remember this when they go to vote at the next GE.

Manchester is a main station hub. It will not lose out due to cancelling HS2. Look how many trains travel the country from there. Unlike us, the very much forgotten NE, bottom half,that no one bothers about, we would have had no difference with that train. We can't even get a straight through to London, let alone anywhere else. Manchester even destroyed our direct link to the airport. So sorry if I shed no tears over this.

Divide and rule alive and well then, set one region against another despite so many shared concerns
How did ‘Manchester’ destroy your link to (which) airport

There’s a direct train from Newcastle to London Freya5, which takes the same time to get there as it does from Manchester.

It puzzled me, Casdon, because I the East Coast main line does frequent direct trains daily from London to Edinburgh, and the reverse, stopping at many places on the way, including York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle. I've travelled in both directions many, many times over 40+ years.

P.S This is a nationalised line and gives great satisfaction...

DH tells me that there will be £10.6 billion to pay in HS2 cancellation fees. This, he says, was in The Times.

Glorianny

I suspect Freya (^NE bottom half^) is somewhere is the Middlesborough/ Teeside area where transport links are abysmal. In fact from Hull northwards there's no real infrastructure, things don't improve until you get to Newcastle.

No even lower, so low down the chain, not many people have heard of it. Still we're doing a grand job with the wind powerhouse, but still no direct links to anywhere. Oh a direct link to Schipol, used by many business people. HS2 would have come nowhere near here. Our MP has been fighting for years to get a direct link to London, without any success.No I will not be voting Tory because of this. In fact there is nothing to choose between either of the two main parties anymore.

I listened to what Sunak had to say about HS2 today and what money would be used for instead in helping northern places.
I think I’ve changed my mind about HS2 now as long as the money’s spent well connecting northern towns and cities, also improved buses in rural areas.HS2 shouldn’t even have been started, the money could have been better spent locally from the start.They have to start doing things really soon tho or nobody will believe it’ll ever happen.

Oreo

I listened to what Sunak had to say about HS2 today and what money would be used for instead in helping northern places.
I think I’ve changed my mind about HS2 now as long as the money’s spent well connecting northern towns and cities, also improved buses in rural areas.HS2 shouldn’t even have been started, the money could have been better spent locally from the start.They have to start doing things really soon tho or nobody will believe it’ll ever happen.

Of course it should never have been started but whom do we have to thank for that? Partygate Johnson. He of the Garden Bridge, the airport on the Thames estuary and the bridge or tunnel to Northern Ireland.

I did actually know that Grantanow 😄

The point is, that this could well be a better outcome for those regions than ever HS2 would have been.Let’s hope so.

Well I'm pretty delighted! I live in the NW and nobody I know wanted the HS2 - a complete irrelevance. When I was working I used to travel all over the country by train. Getting to London was never a problem, it was getting over to the east - Hull, Leeds, Sheffield, that was the nightmare. I've always said that this is where the money should be spent. However, as MayBe70 points out, I'm sure there are going to be a lot of costs that Sunak hasn't mentioned that will need accounting for in cancelling such a big project.
Also pleased that he committed to keeping the £2 bus fares, which seldom get mentioned but make a big difference to a lot of people in my community.

Oreo

The point is, that this could well be a better outcome for those regions than ever HS2 would have been.Let’s hope so.

So what you’re saying is that the government has been running an ill conceived scheme for over 10 years, and hadn’t done their homework to identify it as the best solution before work started in 2017? Oh dear.

Casdon

Oreo

The point is, that this could well be a better outcome for those regions than ever HS2 would have been.Let’s hope so.

So what you’re saying is that the government has been running an ill conceived scheme for over 10 years, and hadn’t done their homework to identify it as the best solution before work started in 2017? Oh dear.

I think many people have realised this for a long time Casdon, especially post Covid when there is even less need for people to be travelling up and down the country and so much is done via Zoom etc. It can't have been an easy decision, but it was a brave and correct one.

I would hope he spends this money saved on growth we are likely to see in the next 5 yrs, more likely he will spend it to shore up Tory votes in marginal areas.
The blight on property will remain for many years.

Oreo

The point is, that this could well be a better outcome for those regions than ever HS2 would have been.Let’s hope so.

I'm afraid not. What the Northern Powerhouse Independent Economic Review showed is that you could get significantly over £100 billion of economic benefit from delivering HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail, every year from 2050.

This would have paid back the cost of the integrated Rail Plan, those lines East to West and finishing HS2; the combined network. Every year we would get the benefit on what had been spent. The first year basically pays for it and every year after that is bonus.

I really don't think Sunak's not yet planned ideas will come close. This is a disaster for the North and no doubt for the Midlands as well. This will shrink the size of the Northern economy.

At the moment people in the North of England earn £8,000, on average, less than in London and the South East, that will now continue.

There are no new plans. What he has "promised" was already included. There is no "levelling up".

This speech is a speech for opposition. There are no plans for any of it, just promises. In opposition he can say to each move forward by Labour "... is that all? But we promised x, y and z!"

And then he will disappear off to the states.

Source: Henri Murison, Chief Executive of Northern Powerhouse Partnership.

Sunak has never been invested in the U.K. since he became PM. He has always intended to become a US citizen and will be gone in the blink of an eye

DAR at 18.35 👍🏻

I don’t know how he has the brass neck to stand there spouting promises we know won’t be kept

Nice try Mr. Sunak.
Once you have seen one Thatcher tribute act you've seen them all.

One has to ask, though, what on earth would the other parties do about it if they were given the chance?

Urmston 😏👏
I find it difficult to take him seriously- we need change and I’m it - get over yourself rishi

I loathe Suella but she did a barnstormer - I disagreed with every word but she looked like a future leader
Heaven save us all

Urmstongran

Nice try Mr. Sunak.
Once you have seen one Thatcher tribute act you've seen them all.

I now have a vision of Rishi in a wig, wearing a blue skirt suit carrying a handbag 🤣

Stop it you two, GrannyGravy - that image now fixed in my mind .

Cabowich

One has to ask, though, what on earth would the other parties do about it if they were given the chance?

If Maybee’s husband is correct that it will cost
£10.6 billion for the government to pay the cancellation fees Urmstongran the next government isn’t going to have the luxury of an option to reinstate the original plan I don’t think.

He’s looked for the article but can’t find it. He often tells me what he’s read early in the day but later in the day they’ll change the articles or update them. I asked him if he’s sure the figure was 10.6 billion and he is.