HS2 The Most Expensive Trainline That Was Never 2B.

The cancellation of HS2 Phase 2 was the worst kept secret of the Conservative party conference. For a week, we all knew the fate of the northern part of the project. Either that, or as Mark Harper would have you believe, they made the monumental decision on the morning of Mr Sunak's speech. Either way, the dithering and delay over HS2 is likely to leave contractors and investors doubting the UK's ability to commit to and bring forward long term major infrastructure projects.

This decision has attracted widespread criticism, not least from the North of the country who were told HS2 would help "level up" and "create growth". There is the promise of Network North but this seemingly doesn't help the connection between North and South and has been announced, as was the cancellation of HS2, without due consultation with the leaders in the North. Will the Network North project deliver the promised connectivity and growth that HS2 had promised? A large proportion of the