HS2 decision has great symbolism for ‘levelling up’ agenda - The Yorkshire Post says

With continuing question marks surrounding the Eastern Leg of HS2 which is due to run up to Leeds, a poll of just over 2,000 people in the North and Midlands commissioned by campaign group HS2 East found just 20 per cent of them believe the Government is doing enough to deliver on its signature policy of ‘levelling up’ the country.

In the same way that the continued use of decrepit Pacer trains on Northern rail routes became emblematic of the dilapidated state of public transport infrastructure in this region, any decision to cancel or water down HS2 plans for Yorkshire while going ahead with the project in other areas of the country would be deeply symbolic and highly damaging for the Government.

As former Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin has warned, if the Government is to successfully level up, the full plans for the Eastern Leg of HS2 must get the green light.

HS2’s opponents say the substantial drop in rail passenger numbers this year shows the high-speed rail scheme is no longer needed. But as the Prime Minister himself said in September as he marked the project’s formal beginning of construction, “mass transit transport infrastructure is going to be crucial for our country, not just now, but in the decades ahead”.

With the Government’s Integrated Rail Plan - which will reveal how HS2 will integrate with Northern Powerhouse Rail and the trans-Pennine route upgrade – expected imminently, it is incumbent on the Prime Minister to provide reassurance on the future of this scheme.

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