HS2 has become like the Black Knight in Monty Python and the Holy Grail: the one who carries on fighting, reassuring himself ‘tis but a scratch’ as, one by one, he is relieved of his limbs. First it was the Birmingham to Leeds limb, then the link between Manchester and the North West Coast mainline. The bit between Old Oak Common and Euston has been hanging by a ligament for a while.
Now it seems that Rishi Sunak is about to swipe his sword through the Birmingham to Manchester arm. That would leave just a truncated line which will speed you from Birmingham to the outskirts of London at 200 mph before dumping you behind Wormwood Scrubs jail. Once you have factored in the time it will take you to travel from there to Central London you may well be better off taking the existing train to Euston.
Cameron and Osborne wanted to boast of having the fastest train service in the world
David Cameron and Boris Johnson have been scathing of the suggestion that Sunak might cancel the Birmingham to Manchester arm (and it is just a suggestion; nothing has yet been announced). But
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