UK PM Rishi Sunak scraps major high-speed rail link; plans to phase out smoking

MANCHESTER, ENGLAND — U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Wednesday unveiled a raft of new policies aimed at shoring up waning support for his Conservative Party ahead of next year’s General Election.

Included in the measures was the anticipated but controversial decision to scrap the northern leg of a planned HS2 high-speed rail network intended to connect industry across the country.

Sunak used the decision to position himself as the change candidate, saying that he would “fundamentally change” the country.

“HS2 is the ultimate example of the old consensus: The result of a project whose costs have more than doubled, for which the economic case has been massively weakened with the changes to travel post-Covid,” he said, delivering his headline speech at the close of the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester, England.

“The facts have changed. The right thing to do when the facts change is to have the courage to change direction,” he said.

Other moves to crackdown on smoking, curb illegal immigration and reform the education system were also announced.

Sunak confirmed speculation that the government would ax the HS2 high-speed train route between Birmingham and Manchester amid mounting costs, saying that money from the project — around £36 billion — would be reinvested in other regional transport links.

HS2 was given a budget of £55.7 billion in 2015 but costs have since ballooned, hitting an estimated £98 billion in 2020. Since then, soaring inflation has pushed costs even higher.

“For the first time in the lifetime of this project, we will have cut costs,” Sunak said. “There is nothing ambitious about simply pouring more and more money into the same project.”

“For too long, Westminster has invested in the projects they want, not the projects the rest…