HS2 Manchester unlikely to be revived, says Labour's mayoral candidate
Labour's candidate to become the next elected mayor for the West Midlands says it is unlikely that the HS2 link to Manchester could now be revived.
The Labour Party conference this week voted to reinstate the link – cancelled by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak last week – should the party form the next government.
But Richard Parker, speaking to the Express & Star after a meeting with Black Country business leaders, said he thought the project was now dead-and-buried.
Mr Parker, who will be challenging incumbent Andy Street at next year's mayoral election, said the Government had made the wrong decision in cancelling the Birmingham-Manchester leg of the line.
He said: "I think it was a disappointing decision and the wrong decision for the region.
"But reading about what has happened over the 48 hours after the announcement, with the land that has been purchased being put up for sale, I think there is now going to be an enormous costing deficit to get things back on track, which is a great shame.
"You would like to have thought, that so close to an election, that the Government would have given more thought to what a future government might look like."
Mr Parker said he was examining the proposals for how the money set aside for the HS2 link would now be spent, but did not expect to see any significant improvements in the region.
"When you look at what they have put out so far, there is not a lot of money that is coming into the Black Country," he said.
Mr Parker was talking to business leaders at a working lunch hosted by the Oldbury-based Richardson group.
