- 'Dark day': Victims mourned around the globe on Oct. 7 anniversary
- On attacks anniversary, Israel fights multi-front war
- Mexican mayor murdered days after taking office
- Intensifying to Category 5, Hurricane Milton targets Florida
- Mission to probe smashed asteroid launches despite hurricane
- Biden, Harris mark Oct. 7 with call for Mideast peace
- Dupont set for Toulouse return after post-Olympic holiday
- French rugby bosses tighten discipline after nightmare Argentina tour
- Oil prices extend gains on Mideast tensions, Wall Street slips
- Visitors to get rare view of Rome's Trevi Fountain
- Europe's asteroid mission Hera launches despite hurricane
- Man City and Premier League both claim victory in legal case
- Deschamps delight as 'light back on' for Pogba after doping ban
- Biden, Harris urge Mideast peace on Oct. 7 anniversary
- Neeskens, tough midfielder in Cruyff's Ajax and Dutch teams
- UN warns world's water cycle becoming ever more erratic
- Oil prices extend gains on Mideast tensions, Wall Street retreats
- Ex-Dutch football star Johan Neeskens dies
- Man Utd battling to improve fortunes, says Evans
- What is microRNA? Nobel-winning discovery explained
- Masood, Abdullah centuries lift Pakistan to 328-4 in first England Test
- Hurricane Milton strengthens fast, threatens Mexico, Florida
- Tunisia's President Saied set for landslide election win
- Barca hoping to return to Camp Nou 'by end of year'
- Trump to open second golf course at Scotland resort in summer 2025
- Super-sub Jhon Duran rewarded with new Aston Villa deal
- US duo win Nobel for gene regulation breakthrough
- Masood hits first ton for four years to power Pakistan to 233-1
- Fritz wins delayed match to reach Shanghai Masters third round
- Naomi Osaka pulls out of Japan Open with back injury
- Weather may delay launch of mission to study deflected asteroid
- China to flesh out economic stimulus plans after bumper rally
- Artist Marina Abramovic hopes first China show offers tech respite
- Asian markets track Wall St rally on US jobs data
- Pakistan 122-1 at lunch in first England Test
- Kazakhs approve plan for first nuclear power plant
- World marks anniversary of Oct. 7 attack on Israel
- 'Second family': tennis stars hunt winning formula with new coaches
- Philippines, South Korea agree to deepen maritime cooperation
- Mexico mayor murdered days after taking office
- Sardinia's sheep farmers battle bluetongue as climate warms
- Japan govt admits doctoring 'untidy' cabinet photo
- Israel marks first anniversary of Hamas's October 7 attack
- Darvish tames Ohtani as Padres thrash Dodgers
- Asian markets track Wall St rally on jobs data
- Family affair as LeBron, Bronny James make Lakers bow
- Cancer, cardiovascular drugs tipped for Nobel as prize week opens
- As Great Salt Lake dries, Utah Republicans pardon Trump climate skepticism
- Amazon activist warns of 'critical situation' ahead of UN forum
- Mourners pay tribute to latest victims of deadly Channel crossing
RBGPF | -1.97% | 58.94 | $ | |
CMSC | -0.2% | 24.65 | $ | |
SCS | -0.7% | 12.88 | $ | |
BCC | 0.48% | 139.569 | $ | |
GSK | 0.06% | 38.845 | $ | |
NGG | -1.28% | 65.66 | $ | |
BCE | -0.33% | 33.6 | $ | |
RIO | -0.13% | 69.61 | $ | |
BTI | -0.02% | 35.284 | $ | |
RYCEF | -1.45% | 6.88 | $ | |
RELX | -0.6% | 46.015 | $ | |
JRI | -0.38% | 13.23 | $ | |
CMSD | -0.09% | 24.79 | $ | |
BP | 0.74% | 33.125 | $ | |
AZN | -0.36% | 77.19 | $ | |
VOD | 0.21% | 9.68 | $ |
UK's high speed rail row overshadows Conservative party conference
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Tuesday dodged questions over the future of the UK's second high-speed train line as the issue overshadowed his Conservative party's annual conference.
Sunak's finance minister Jeremy Hunt sent speculation about the northern section of the HS2 train line into overdrive last month when he said costs were "getting totally out of control" and refused to comment on whether it might be axed.
The colossal and increasingly controversial infrastructure project is intended to link London with the central city of Birmingham and northern England.
It would be only the UK's second high-speed train line after the one leading to the Channel Tunnel, linking England's southeast with northern France.
Estimated at £37.5 billion ($46 billion) in 2013, the cost has since soared to around £100 billion.
Refusing to be drawn on reports he was about to scrap the northern part of route from Birmingham to Manchester, Sunak said the expense of HS2 had gone "far beyond" what had been predicted.
"I know there's lots of speculation on it but what I would say is... the sums involved are enormous and it's right that the prime minister takes proper care over it," he told Times Radio.
"It’s obviously not my money -– it's taxpayers' money and we should make the right decisions on these things."
- 'Levelling up' -
Cancelling the Birmingham to Manchester leg of the project could leave Sunak's government open to accusations of abandoning the party's much-touted "levelling up" policy.
The policy aims to reduce economic inequalities across the country, including between the north and the more prosperous London-centred south.
Alongside Brexit, it was a key promise of the Tories' 2019 general election campaign, helping them to secure a landslide win in former heartlands of the main opposition Labour party in the north of England.
At the party conference in Manchester on Monday, Conservative mayor of the West Midlands Andy Street made an impassioned last-ditch appeal to the premier not to cancel the northern section of the rail link.
"You will be turning your back on an opportunity to level up -– a once-in-a-generation opportunity," he told reporters.
"You will indeed be damaging your international reputation as a place to invest," he said, adding that he did not rule out resigning over the issue.
Work on the first section of HS2 between London and Birmingham began in April 2020, with the first trains due to run between 2029 and 2033.
The Labour mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, said cancelling the link would leave people in northern England "second class citizens".
"If they're about to pull the plug, that would just be a desperate act of a dying government with nowhere left to go," he said.
Sunak's Conservatives, in power since 2010, are holding what could be their last annual conference before an expected general election next year.
Labour is well out in front in opinion polls amid a cost of living crisis, stubbornly high inflation and widespread industrial unrest that is hitting services including health and transport.
Sunak is widely expected to make an announcement about HS2 in his keynote address to the conference on Wednesday.
P.Stevenson--AMWN