Rishi Sunak defended for saying no decision made on HS2 – despite filming video days earlier

Published

2 years ago

October 5, 2023

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The transport secretary has defended Rishi Sunak for insisting no decision had been made on scrapping part of HS2 – despite the prime minister recording a video about his announcement days earlier.

Mark Harper told Sky News he did not know “why people are getting so het up” on the issue, and work was done “in advance”.

On Wednesday, the prime minister finally confirmed that the northern leg of the high-speed line will be scrapped after weeks of speculation.

Politics Live: Mark Harper ‘proud’ of HS2 decision despite criticism

Although Mr Sunak had insisted no decision had been taken on the fate of the Birmingham to Manchester leg, that claim was thrown into doubt after a video was posted on X, formerly Twitter.

The clip – filmed in Downing Street before the PM travelled to Manchester for the Conservative Party conference – outlined reasons for axing the route.

Sky News has asked Downing Street whether another version was filmed backing HS2, but they said they were not aware.

Mr Harper went on to say he was “proud” of the decision to cut back the project amid backlash from senior Tories including former prime ministers David Cameron, Theresa May and Boris Johnson.

He said they are “absolutely entitled to their opinion” but the facts have changed and the “costs of the project have escalated”.

The original projected cost of HS2 was £33bn but this soared to more than £100bn by some estimates.

In his speech on Wednesday, Mr Sunak said axing phase two would free up £36bn for other transport projects in the North.

Government promises ‘jam tomorrow’

The decision to cut HS2 has been heavily criticised by northern leaders.

Liverpool Mayor Steve Rotheram said he had spoken to Mr Harper about plans for transport in the area, but described government proposals as “jam tomorrow”.

He said the savings from scaling back the project won’t be seen for “many years, in some cases decades” – and some of it is “being proposed to be spent down South for potholes”.

With criticism continuing to pile in, Mr Sunak remained defiant and refused to apologise to the people in the North.

Asked whether he would say sorry, he told Radio 4: “No. What I want to say to everybody is that what we’re doing is going to be better. It’s going to be better for our country.”

Politics

‘No doubt’ UK will spend 3% of GDP on defence in next parliament, defence secretary says

Published

3 hours ago

May 31, 2025

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'No doubt' UK will spend 3% of GDP on defence in next parliament, defence secretary says

There is “no doubt” the UK “will spend 3% of our GDP on defence” in the next parliament, the defence secretary has said.

John Healey’s comments come ahead of the publication of the government’s Strategic Defence Review (SDR) on Monday.

This is an assessment of the state of the armed forces, the threats facing the UK, and the military transformation required to meet them.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has previously set out a “clear ambition” to raise defence spending to 3% in the next parliament “subject to economic and fiscal conditions”.

Mr Healey has now told The Times newspaper there is a “certain decade of rising defence spending” to come, adding that this commitment “allows us to plan for the long term. It allows us to deal with the pressures.”

A government source insisted the defence secretary was “expressing an opinion, which is that he has full confidence that the government will be able to deliver on its ambition”, rather than making a new commitment.

The UK currently spends 2.3% of GDP on defence, with Sir Keir announcing plans to increase that to 2.5% by 2027 in February.

This followed mounting pressure from the White House for European nations to do more to take on responsibility for their own security and the defence of Ukraine.

The 2.3% to 2.5% increase is being paid for by controversial cuts to the international aid budget, but there are big questions over where the funding for a 3% rise would be found, given the tight state of government finances.

While a commitment will help underpin the planning assumptions made in the SDR, there is of course no guarantee a Labour government would still be in power during the next parliament to have to fulfil that pledge.

A statement from the Ministry of Defence makes it clear that the official government position has not changed in line with the defence secretary’s comments.

The statement reads: “This government has announced the largest sustained increase to defence spending since the end of the Cold War – 2.5% by 2027 and 3% in the next parliament when fiscal and economic conditions allow, including an extra £5bn this financial year.

“The SDR will rightly set the vision for how that uplift will be spent, including new capabilities to put us at the leading edge of innovation in NATO, investment in our people and making defence an engine for growth across the UK – making Britain more secure at home and strong abroad.”

Sir Keir commissioned the review shortly after taking office in July 2024. It is being led by Lord Robertson, a former Labour defence secretary and NATO secretary general.

The Ministry of Defence has already trailed a number of announcements as part of the review, including plans for a new Cyber and Electromagnetic Command and a £1bn battlefield system known as the Digital Targeting Web, which we’re told will “better connect armed forces weapons systems and allow battlefield decisions for targeting enemy threats to be made and executed faster”.

On Saturday, the defence secretary announced a £1.5bn investment to tackle damp, mould and make other improvements to poor quality military housing in a bid to improve recruitment and retention.

Mr Healey pledged to “turn round what has been a national scandal for decades”, with 8,000 military family homes currently unfit for habitation.

He said: “The Strategic Defence Review, in the broad, will recognise that the fact that the world is changing, threats are increasing.

“In this new era of threat, we need a new era for defence and so the Strategic Defence Review will be the vision and direction for the way that we’ve got to strengthen our armed forces to make us more secure at home, stronger abroad, but also learn the lessons from Ukraine as well.

“So an armed forces that can be more capable of innovation more quickly, stronger to deter the threats that we face and always with people at the heart of our forces… which is why the housing commitments that we make through this strategic defence review are so important for the future.”