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Rishi Sunak dodged questions over the future of HS2 as he spoke to local radio stations across the country.

The prime minister was repeatedly asked about the northern leg of the high speed rail line between Birmingham and Manchester.

He was also quizzed on whether the route would now end in the west London suburb of Old Oak Common rather than Euston, as reports continue to surface that he plans to scrap the next phase of the project due to soaring costs.

Read more: PM pushed in series of live interviews – follow politics live

In a tough exchange on BBC Radio Manchester, Mr Sunak refused to give a yes or no answer to the presenter, saying: “I’m not speculating on future things.”

But he hinted at more support for the so-called Northern Powerhouse Rail, running east to west, adding: “Having greater frequency, greater capacity and shorter journey times… will make the biggest difference to unlocking the massive potential across the North”.

He also appeared to defend the viability of Old Oak Common on BBC Three Counties Radio, saying it had “very strong” connections into the capital.

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Earlier this week, Rishi Sunak again refused to confirm the future of HS2’s northern leg.

HS2 was first touted by Labour in 2009, before it was signed off by the Tory Lib Dem coalition government. It was designed to connect the South, the Midlands and the North of England with state-of-the-art infrastructure.

If the Manchester leg were to be axed, it would be the latest watering down of the project, with the eastern leg to Leeds scrapped entirely and work between Birmingham and Crewe delayed due to the impact of inflation.

Some estimates have put the total cost at more than £100bn, while the project has been rated “unachievable” by the infrastructure watchdog.

The line has numerous defenders, from Tory grandees like Lord Heseltine and former chancellor George Osborne, through to Labour’s regional mayors, who have criticised the government for not involving them in the decision over its future.

An announcement on the scrapping of phase two and the London terminus had been expected this week – but it has yet to surface just days before the Conservative Party heads to Manchester for its annual conference.

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Speaking to Sky News, Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham said people in the North were being ‘treated like second class citizens’.

Almost a year to the day former prime minister Liz Truss faced a battering on BBC local stations, Mr Sunak carried out the same pre-conference media round, beginning with BBC York, which asked him if he had “betrayed” the North over HS2.

“No,” he replied. “I think what people will see… [is] we’re investing record amounts in improving infrastructure but also delivering levelling up. I mean making sure that our town centres and high streets get the investment that they need.

“That’s really important and making sure that, as I say, transport infrastructure is being improved.”

Asked if the northern leg would go ahead by BBC West Midlands, the prime minister said: “There are spades in the ground right now at the moment making sure that we complete the first part of this line from Birmingham to central London, and we are absolutely getting on with that, that is important.”

But he deflected to talk about other forms of travel, saying: “We are investing in the transport that they use every day, making sure that the roads that people are using, probably right now as they are driving to work or taking their kids to school, are free of potholes, that the bus services that we have are reliable and frequent.”

Read more:
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Ex-minister calls for inquiry into HS2 as he warns of ‘disastrous’ consequences
Johnson and Cameron criticise move to ditch HS2 to Manchester

Mr Sunak’s third outing came on BBC Manchester and presenter Anna Jameson accused him of “trying to get off” the HS2 topic, asking: “Let’s end this right here right now, tell the people of Greater Manchester, are you scrapping the HS2 line between Birmingham and Manchester?”

The PM replied: “I know there is a lot of speculation on this but we have already got spades in the ground on the first bit of HS2 and what we are doing is getting on with delivering it.”

Pushed on the northern leg, he said: “It is always right that the government is looking at things to make sure we are doing things in a way that creates value for money.

“But what I would say is HS2 is one of the many things we are doing to level up across our country and is one of the many things we are doing to invest in the north and in transport infrastructure in the north.”

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Accusing him of “going off topic”, the presenter asked him to “keep focus”, adding: “We are straight talking people in the north it is a yes or a no, are you scrapping the HS2 line between Birmingham and Manchester?”

But again Mr Sunak insisted he would not be “speculating on future things”. However, he again put the focus on the need for greater connectivity east to west, hinting it could be on offer if the north to south plan is ditched.

“Connectivity across northern towns and cities is important,” added the prime minister. “I’ve said it for years.

“I know that that connectivity across the Pennines is not good enough. And it’s not just Liverpool to Manchester, it’s all the way across the North. And that is probably the thing that will drive the most growth, create the most jobs if we can get that right. And that’s why we are investing in doing that. But we obviously need to do more.”

English regions unite in calling for answers on HS2



Mhari Aurora

Political correspondent

@MhariAurora

The countdown to Conservative party conference has begun, and while Rishi Sunak would most likely want to be focused on the allocated themes of each day – the economy, cutting waiting lists and stopping the boats – HS2 looks set to derail that agenda.

On a whistle-stop tour of eight regional radio stations this morning, the prime minister was asked about the controversial trainline by more than half of them.

Unsurprisingly the West Midlands and Manchester stations grilled Sunak on the northern leg of the line.

Mr Sunak insisted there were spades in the ground building the line from Birmingham to central London, but as Old Oak Common is situated in the London travel zone two, most would not class that as the heart of the city.

The prime minister was accused of going against the North and betraying its people, to which he responded, “I know acutely where the challenges are”, and that he was focused on investing in transport links that people use on a daily basis.

But his justification for focusing on investing in local rail lines and roads making it easier for people to get around would bring jobs, drive growth and make life better for everyone could be interpreted as somewhat ironic, as some would argue HS2 would do exactly that.

The presenter on the Manchester station questioned whether Mr Sunak would be able to hang on to so-called ‘Red Wall’ seats if he continued the Tory record of broken promises to the North of England.

And after being played a clip of a leaked recording in which Mr Sunak takes credit for diverting funds from poor urban areas to rural places, the station accused him of not caring about areas like theirs.

But immediately after that on the Shropshire radio station, the very first question asked was whether he was ignoring rural communities.

And on the Three Counties radio station, the presenter played a recording of one man crying because he felt the HS2 development had destroyed his town of Wendover.

Indicative of the conflicting directions in which Mr Sunak is being pulled, the prime minister is under incredible pressure to not only make a decision on the future of the highspeed rail link, but to make the right one.

But that decision looks starkly different depending on who you ask.

On BBC Three Counties Radio, Mr Sunak was pushed over the final destination for HS2 in the capital, with presenter Babs Michel asking: “Where is Old Oak Common? Because it appears [it] is closer to Brentford than Trafalgar Square, so what is the point… it doesn’t help us at all.”

But the prime minister appeared to defend it as a sensible place to terminate the link, saying: “Old Oak Common is on the new Elizabeth Line and actually the connections from Old Oak Common to most London destinations, whether that is Heathrow, the City, the West End, Canary Wharf, are actually very strong.

“Obviously it is a new station that people won’t be familiar with, but its connectivity into all those areas is very strong.”

During the interviews, Mr Sunak was also challenged on crumbling concrete, waiting times for ambulances – and whether he wanted to buy Reading Football Club.

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Speaking to Sky News ahead of Mr Sunak’s interviews, transport minister Richard Holden said it was right the government carefully considers spending around the high-speed rail project.

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Starmer denies ministers involved in China spy trial collapse

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Starmer denies ministers involved in China spy trial collapse

Sir Keir Starmer has denied any ministers were involved in the collapse of the trial of alleged Chinese spies.

Christopher Cash, 30, a former parliamentary researcher, and teacher Christopher Berry, 33, were accused of spying for China, but weeks before their trial was due to begin, it was dropped.

Berry, of Witney, Oxfordshire, and Cash, of Whitechapel, east London denied the allegations.

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Sir Keir, his ministers and national security adviser Jonathan Powell have faced accusations they were involved in the trial being dropped.

The prime minister has maintained that because the last Conservative government had not designated China as a threat to national security, his government could not provide evidence to that effect, which the director of public prosecutions Stephen Parkinson said was required to meet the threshold for prosecution.

Mr Parkinson had blamed ministers for failing to provide the crucial evidence needed to proceed.

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During a trade visit to India, the prime minister was asked whether any minister, or Mr Powell, were involved in the decision not to provide the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) with evidence that, at the time of the alleged offences, China represented a threat to national security.

He replied: “I can be absolutely clear no ministers were involved in any of the decisions since this government’s been in in relation to the evidence that’s put before the court on this issue.”

He did not mention Mr Powell specifically.

Read more:
Blame game over trial collapse. Who’s right? Who’s wrong?

Christopher Cash (left) and Christopher Berry had the charges against them dropped in September. Pics: Reuters
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Christopher Cash (left) and Christopher Berry had the charges against them dropped in September. Pics: Reuters

Earlier this week, Mr Parkinson took the unusual step of sending MPs a letter to say the government had refused to label Beijing an enemy, which led to the case being dropped.

Sir Keir reiterated his line that the case could only rely on evidence from the period the pair were accused of spying, from 2021 to 2023, when the Conservatives were in government.

He said: “The evidence in this case was drawn up at the time and reflected the position as it was at the time,” the PM said in India.

“And that has remained the situation from start to finish.

“That is inevitably the case because in the United Kingdom, you can only try people on the basis of the situation as it was at the time.

“You can’t try people on the basis of the situation, as it now is or might be in the future, and therefore, the only evidence that a court would ever admit on this would be evidence of what the situation was at the time.

“It’s not a party political point. It’s a matter of law.”

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Is China an enemy to the UK?

Sir Keir’s assertion has been called into question by former top civil servants and legal experts.

Mark Elliott, professor of public law at the University of Cambridge, told Sky News there is no legal requirement for a country to be declared an enemy for someone to be tried for breaching the Official Secrets Act.

He said the current government was “cherry picking” what the previous government had said about China to claim they did not regard them as a threat to national security.

However, there are several examples of the Tory government saying China was a national security threat during the time Berry and Cash were accused of spying.

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Less than half of Scots trust Scottish government to do right by country, report finds

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Less than half of Scots trust Scottish government to do right by country, report finds

A new report has warned of a “clear decline in trust” in the Scottish government since devolution, with less than half of respondents saying it acts in the country’s best interests.

The Scottish Social Attitudes survey, published by the Scottish Centre for Social Research (ScotCen) on Thursday, found 47% of Scots trust the Scottish government to do what is right for Scotland.

The figure has decreased from 61% in 2019 and is down from 81% when devolution began in 1999.

The survey, 25 Years Of Devolution In Scotland: Public Attitudes And Reaction, also found 38% of respondents believe the government is good at listening to the public before making decisions, the lowest result since 2006.

The statistics on trust in the Scottish government are from research in 2023, with other data coming from 2024.

Satisfaction with the NHS has fallen to 22%, which ScotCen says is comparable with the rest of the UK.

This follows a 2023 finding in which 69% of people surveyed said they felt the standard of the health service had declined.

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ScotCen said this represents the lowest level of satisfaction and the highest perception of a decline in standards since the time series began in 1999.

In 2024, around two in five adults in Scotland (41%) said they were living comfortably or doing alright financially, while around one in four (24%) reported they were really struggling.

Most of those north of the border continued to identify as Scottish, though the 74% saying in 2024 that it was at least one of their identities was a reduction from 84% who said so in 1999.

Despite trust in the Scottish government having reduced, support for independence is at 47%, up from 27% in 1999.

Read more:
Why next year’s Scottish elections could get messy

Paul Bradshaw, director of ScotCen, said: “These latest results show a clear decline in trust in the Scottish government, alongside continued concern about public services and the economy.

“While Scots remain strongly attached to their Scottish identity, our data suggest that confidence in political institutions is under pressure, a finding that will be important for policymakers and the public alike.”

In an extract from the report’s conclusion, co-authors Sophie Birtwistle and Sir John Curtice wrote: “So far as public opinion is concerned, devolution has not turned out in the way that either its advocates or its critics anticipated when the Scottish parliament first met on 1 July 1999.

“On the one hand, it has not resulted in any long-term marked decline in Scots’ willingness to acknowledge a British identity or in any marked divergence of attitudes and values between Scotland and England.

“On the other hand, far from persuading Scots of the merits of being part of the UK, the decision to put the independence question to voters in 2014 occasioned a marked long-term increase in support for leaving the UK.

“Yet, at the same time, although support for independence may now be higher, it is still a long way from looking like a ‘settled will’ in the way that, by 1999, the idea of Scotland having its own parliament appeared to be.”

Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes said the “fresh start of independence” would help to “raise living standards, grow the economy, and shape a fairer, more prosperous future”.

She added: “The data suggests that trust in the Scottish government is on a level with governments elsewhere, but we are determined to do more.

“Much of this data was collected up to two years ago.

“Since then, the Scottish government has made considerable progress to deliver on the people of Scotland’s priorities – including abolishing peak rail fares, confirming plans to deliver winter heating support for pensioners and taking action to improve our NHS, including investing record funding of £21.7bn for health and social care this year.”

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Shapeshift revives privacy focus with Zcash shielded support

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Shapeshift revives privacy focus with Zcash shielded support

Shapeshift revives privacy focus with Zcash shielded support

ShapeShift has reintroduced support for Zcash’s shielded transactions, marking its return to privacy-focused cryptocurrency after transitioning into a DEX aggregator.

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