The levelling up agenda is “steaming ahead”, a government minister has insisted – despite being unable to say whether the HS2 rail link will go to Manchester as planned.
Policing minister Chris Philp said there were “spades in the ground” and “track being laid” for the rail line that will link London to the North in phases – but he said did not know “exactly what is or is not being considered”.
Speaking to Sky News, Mr Philp said: “I’m a Home Office minister, so I’m afraid I don’t know about exactly what is or is not being considered. But I do know that work is ongoing as we speak to construct the line.”
Pressed on why he did not know the details as a member of the government, he said: “Well, I can tell you that work on the line is ongoing at the moment. It is being built and those trains are going to go very fast from London, going North as soon as the line is finished.”
The questions marks over Manchester have prompted anger from politicians – including Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, who said: “The southern half of England gets a modern rail system and the North left with Victorian infrastructure. Levelling up? My a***.”
Asked about Mr Burnham’s comments on Sky News this morning. Mr Philp said: “There is £3bn this year being invested in levelling up in the North.
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“There are new rail projects, more local rail projects being invested in the North.”
“The government is moving departments up into the North. So the levelling up agenda is steaming ahead.”
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2:32
HS2 delays to cost at least £266m
It comes after The Independent reported ministers were considering shelving the northern phase amid concerns about spiralling costs and severe delays.
The Independent said a cost estimate revealed that the government has already spent £2.3bn on stage two of the railway from Birmingham to Manchester, but that ditching the northern phase could save up to £34bn.
The newspaper said the documents were discussed at a meeting in Downing Street on Tuesday and suggested the £2.3bn was now not recoverable even if it is cancelled.
The prime minister’s official spokesman said: “I can’t comment on speculation around a leaked document. It is obviously standard process for departments to discuss the phasing of major projects like HS2 … but the work is already under way,” he said.
Asked whether the prime minister was committed to the line going to Manchester, the spokesman said: “We are committed to HS2, to the project.
“I can’t comment on the speculation that’s a result of a photograph. We are as you know looking at the rephasing of the work in the best interests of passengers and taxpayers.”
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1:54
HS2 unearths unexpected treasure
Signs that the leg to the northern city may be in trouble came when the DfT confirmed in March that work on the crucial leg between Birmingham and Crewe – which is then due to continue to Manchester – would have to be put on hold because of the impact of inflation.
It meant that services were not going to extend to Manchester until the 2040s.
Delivery of the high-speed railway has been a core pledge of the Conservative government, but it has been plagued by delays and ever-increasing costs.
The initial opening date of 2026 has fallen back to 2033, while cost estimates have spiralled from about £33bn in 2010 to £71bn in 2019 – excluding the final eastern leg from the West Midlands to the East Midlands.
It is not just the northern section of the project that has encountered trouble, as there are also doubts about the future of Euston station in London.
A reference to China being an “enemy” of the UK was removed from key evidence for a collapsed spy trial in 2023 as it “did not reflect government policy” under the Conservatives at the time, according to the national security adviser.
In the letter published by parliament’s Joint Committee on National Security Strategy earlier on Friday, National Security Adviser (NSA) Jonathan Powell said Counter Terror Police and the Crown Prosecution Service were aware of the change made by Deputy National Security Adviser (DSNA) Matt Collins.
This would mean the CPS knew the “enemy” reference had been removed before charging the two suspects, according to Mr Powell.
In another letter published on Friday, the director of public prosecutions (DPP) Stephen Parkinson told the committee that it took DSNA Mr Collins more than a year to confirm to prosecutors he would not say China posed a threat to UK national security in court.
The DPP said a High Court judge ruled in June last year that an “enemy” under law is a state which “presently poses an active threat to the UK’s national security”, prompting the CPS to ask the DNSA whether China fulfilled that criteria.
He added prosecutors did not believe there would be “any difficulty in obtaining evidence” from Mr Collins that China was a national security threat, but added: “This was a sticking point that could not be overcome.”
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Mr Parkinson added that the DNSA’s “unwillingness” to describe China as an active or current threat was “fatal to the case” because Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry’s defence teams would have been entitled to call him as a witness.
The DPP added: “This factor is compounded by the fact that drafts of the first witness statement, reviewed by us in July 2025, showed that references to China being an ‘enemy’ or ‘possible enemy’ had been deleted.
“Those drafts would probably have been disclosable to the defence.”
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0:38
What do we know about the China spy case?
A final draft of Mr Collins’ statement was sent to then-prime minister Rishi Sunak in December 2023, Mr Powell’s letter said.
“Drafts of a statement provided to DNSA included the term ‘enemy’ but he removed this term from the final draft as it did not reflect government policy,” the letter reads.
It comes amid a political row over the collapse of the prosecution of Christopher Berry and Christopher Cash last month, who were accused of conducting espionage for China.
Both individuals vehemently deny the claims.
Because the CPS was pursuing charges under the Official Secrets Act 1911, prosecutors would have had to show the defendants were acting for an “enemy”.
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2:09
China spy row: Witness statements explained
DPP Mr Parkinson has come under pressure to provide a fuller explanation for the abandonment of the case.
He has blamed insufficient evidence being provided by the government that Beijing represented a threat to the UK at the time of the alleged offences.
The Conservatives have accused Sir Keir Starmer of letting the case collapse, but Labour has said there was nothing more it could have done.
The current government has insisted ministers did not intervene in the case or attempt to make representations to ensure the strength of evidence, for fear of interfering with the course of justice.
Image: Sir Keir Starmer met Chinese premier Xi Jingping in November 2024. Pic: PA
The DNSA and DPP will face questions from the parliamentary committee on Monday afternoon.
The current attorney general, Lord Hermer, and the chancellor of the duchy of Lancaster, Darren Jones, will be questioned on Wednesday.
The PM’s spokesman reiterated the government’s position that “what is relevant in a criminal case of this nature is the government’s position at the time of the alleged offences”.
Lindsay Whittle stood for election in Caerphilly 13 times since 1983 – and on the 14th attempt, he finally succeeded.
In the process, the 72-year-old local boy – nicknamed “Mr Caerphilly” – humiliated the Labour Party, which had held the Senedd seat since its creation in 1999 and the Westminster constituency for over a century.
Born in the miner’s hospital, Mr Whittle lived in a council house and grew up in the town, located to the north of Cardiff, that he now represents.
A lifelong Plaid Cymru activist, his interest in politics was first piqued in the 1960s. He said he even missed an O Level (GCSE) exam in the 1970s because he was out canvassing for the party.
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1:21
Watch Lindsay Whittle’s victory speech.
Mr Whittle was first elected in 1976 to represent the Penyrheol and Trecenydd ward on Rhymney Valley district council, and he was re-elected repeatedly until the council was abolished in 1996.
He then contested the Penyrheol ward on the new Caerphilly County Borough Council, created in 1995, and was elected to represent it seven times. He served as the council’s leader for two periods between 1999 and 2004, and has also served as Plaid Cymru’s group leader on the council since 2022.
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1:20
Plaid Cymru is ‘ready to lead Wales’, party leader Rhun ap Iorwerth told Sky News.
But, despite his success at the local level, Mr Whittle was only able to secure election to the then Welsh Assembly once in six attempts since its creation in 1999, becoming an MS on the South Wales East list 2011, before losing his seat in 2016.
In those five years in Cardiff, he was appointed Plaid Cymru’s spokesperson for Social Services, Children, and Equal Opportunities, and he was able to work on his key political interests of housing and local government, as well as combating homelessness.
Image: Lindsay Whittle in front of the Caerphilly Castle after his victory. Pic: PA
Election by the people of his hometown of Caerphilly has always eluded him, however, having lost the 13 other elections for Westminster and the Senedd that he has stood in throughout a lifetime in Welsh politics.
But that all changed last night when he was elected with a majority of nearly 4,000 votes to take over from the late Hefin David, the beloved Labour representative to whom he paid tribute in his victory speech.
Image: Lindsay Whittle speaking to Sky’s Jon Craig at the election night count in Caerphilly. Pic: PA
Speaking to our chief political correspondent Jon Craig as dawn broke over the town he was born in and now represents, Mr Whittle said: “I would need to be a poet to put into words how I genuinely feel about the honour that all the people of Caerphilly have bestowed upon me.
“Almost half of the people who went out to vote, just 2% short of half of the people, put their confidence in Lindsay Whittle and Plaid Cymru. I cannot tell you what an honour that is.”
He added: “Retirement is not for me. I’m not the sort of guy who relaxes on beaches. In fact, I don’t think I ever relax. It’s people. It’s people that make me carry on.”