HS2 to Manchester 'scrapped': What Andy Burnham and Bev Craig have said after Tory party conference bombshell

Rishi Sunak is reportedly on the verge of confirming plans for HS2 to reach Manchester will be scrapped.

Reports emerged on Monday at the Conservative Party Conference in, you guessed it, Manchester, that the Prime Minister was ready to confirm he was going to pull the plug after days of speculation.

Mr Sunak has failed to answer on numerous occasions about whether he is set to axe the Birmingham-to-Manchester leg of the high speed rail project. But the news now appears imminent and led to Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham and city council leader Bev Craig speaking out on Monday. Here's what they said.

Andy Burnham

“People are meeting in rooms yards from where we’re standing now about decisions that will affect the future of the north of England for the rest of the century. But nobody in government deems that they should pick up the phone to the leader of Manchester City Council or to myself, and, quite frankly, for the city that’s hosting this conference, and we’re pleased to do that, I don’t think that is really any way to treat people. End this shambles, you can’t take decisions of this magnitude in the way that you’re doing."

He added: "This was the parliament when the north of England was being levelled up with the rest of the country and here we are at the end of it.

“If they’re about to pull the plug, that would just be a desperate act of a dying government with nowhere left to go. At the very least they should preserve the decision for the next government so they can deliver what the north of England has been promised.

“Don’t in any way go away from Manchester and underestimate the anger that is building around in this city and the towns around it, and across the north, about the way the north of England is being treated. We will not accept it any more.”

Bev Craig

“The offer of a conversation is still there. The Government, the Prime Minister and the ministers leading on the decisions need to reach out to us and need to have that conversation, because we won’t be prepared to sit back time and time again, and hear promise after promise, where ultimately it’s our residents at the receiving end and our residents that are being let down.

“So, the message is clear. You can’t govern a country through briefings on social media. Get in touch, pick up the phone, send an email. Our door’s open.”

Mr Sunak is set to speak at the conference on Wednesday.