A white elephant dies

Given the attention devoted to the HS2 rail project, and its potential extension from Birmingham to Manchester (and originally of course to Leeds) Rishi Sunak had some nerve to announce the cancellation of that leg at the Tory conference in Manchester. I suppose that is what he wants people to remember—that he had some nerve—as opposed to Starmer who is trying to play things so safe he is in danger of disappearing up his own rabbit hole. Personally, I think Sunak made the right choice, if, that is he actually does redirect the money saved into northern transport schemes. It’s a big ‘if.’ And not a lot will happen on that front before the next election so it’s a big gamble. It will still take three hours twenty minutes to get from Scarborough to Liverpool for the foreseeable future. And the half hourly trains the Tories promised us a few years ago are nowhere to be seen. It leaves a headache for Starmer. Will he pledge to resurrect the original HS2 route whatever the cost? Or will he (as usual) signal his complicity with the Tory version of technocratic centralism and obfuscate his way out of this one? Delegates to Labour’s conference next week will be on the edge of their seats, if they can stay awake.