The slow-moving comms crash continues at Tory Conference as Sunak is battered on a mini-morning round of interviews on HS2. After chaotic media speculation yesterday that the Manchester leg would be kiboshed, Rishi got tetchy as he was repeatedly questioned on his plans for the project. Who could have seen that coming…

The media is reporting that the axe will finally fall on the Manchester leg of HS2 while Tories are in Manchester, at the same time top government officials are briefing that “no decision has been made”. When will Number 10 get a handle on these botched communications?

Labour are privately delighted at the news that they’ll have a few extra billion to play with. Tory officials rolled out for interview are keeping to the old lines. Off the rails…

Rishi Sunak repeatedly refused to answer questions on whether he will scrap the HS2 line to Manchester this morning on BBC…Manchester. How have they not taken a line on this yet?

Anna Jameson asked, “We’re straight talking people in the North, it’s a yes or a no, are you scrapping the HS2 to line between Birmingham and Manchester?” Rishi sidestepped the question, saying “I’m not speculating on future things.” Strange that he wasn’t prepped with a better line than some waffle about filling in potholes. And the “Nerth”… 

Knowing what’s really happening with HS2 is near impossible with Downing Street’s current comms strategy.  Especially when Grant Shapps and Jeremy Hunt were allowed to drop hints in recent days essentially confirming the Northern leg of HS2 is about to be derailed. All before the Tories head off to conference in… Manchester.

Number 10 are spinning the constant umming and ahhing over HS2 as a consequence of Rishi’s “alarm” at the cost surpassing £100 billion. Guido has taken a look back at the confusion in just the last few months:

• March 26^th: Michael Gove insisted HS2 would arrive in Manchester. Though perhaps not Euston…
• July 30^th: Government ‘committed‘ to HS2 after watchdog rates project as ‘unachievable‘. Strong start…
• September 14^th: Downing Street refused to guarantee the HS2 will run to Manchester as planned. Change of tune…
• September 15^th: Chris Philp said he didn’t know whether the line would go to Manchester as planned but that trains would go “very fast from London“.
• September 17^th: Foreign Secretary James Cleverly wouldn’t confirm HS2 link to Manchester despite PM’s ‘absolute‘ levelling up commitment.
• September 18^th: Richard Holden refused to confirm HS2 will run to Manchester but added in the Commons “we remain focused on its delivery.” One-way ticket to uncertainty there…
• September 18^th: Pensions Minister Laura Trott told Sky News  “The government looks at every single penny it is spending to make sure that we’re getting the value for money.” Avoiding the question again… 
• September 21^st: Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said the costs of HS2 were “getting totally out of control” as he refused to commit to building the Manchester leg.
• September 24^th: Transport Minister Grant Shapps let the cat out the bag, responding to whether HS2 will run to Manchester that, “it’s not my area these days” adding that the PM is “prepared to do long-term difficult things.” 
• September 25^th: Rishi refused to comment on the speculation of scrapping northern leg of HS2, though claimed he is “still committed to levelling up“.
• September 26^th: Policing Minister Chris Philp said he “wants to see tax payers money spent prudently” and that “the chancellor and the PM are trying to control the costs”. 
• September 26^th: The Times reported Rishi Sunak is to delay or even scrap the leg of HS2 from Birmingham to Manchester, citing runaway costs.

Are we derailing HS2 or not?

Anti-HS2 crusader Keir Starmer may have to face down his Shadow Cabinet as an unearthed video does the rounds of him unreservedly blasting the project “on cost and merit”, and categorically stating that “the only sensible plan is to abandon the project altogether”. Starmer has a long history of campaigning against the project with fellow Camden MP Tulip Siddiq… and crucially voted against it in 2016. Any new expression of support for HS2 from Starmer will be entirely confected and opportunistic.

Long before Sir Keir was elevated to the leadership, Wes Streeting implicitly took a pop at his now-dear leader by describing his anti-HS2 campaign as “great for posh Londoners but crap for working class northerners”. Most of the Shadow Cabinet are on the record as strongly in favour of HS2, including John Healey, Jonathan Reynolds, Nick Thomas-Symonds, Jonathan Ashworth, Bridget Phillipson, Louise Haigh, Lucy Powell, and Steve Reed. Admittedly Shabana Mahmood has backed Andy Burnham’s claim that it is “essential to regeneration, jobs and growth”. Starmer is deliberately keeping a low profile during this row…

Anyone hoping the Labour Party will offer a solution to the HS2 funding confusion will be disappointed. As the government appears to backtrack on building the northern leg of the high speed rail service, the question of what Labour would do differently has now produced three different answers from three Shadow ministers in just 48 hours. Almost as if they have no idea what they’d do either…

On Sunday, Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Pat McFadden told Laura Kuenssberg he wants to “see what [it] costs” to build the Manchester leg, and Labour will “make those decisions when it comes to the manifesto“. The usual ‘wait and see’ fence-sitting Labour rely on…

Yet last night the party offered newfound clarity on the issue, with Shadow Minister Nick Thomas-Symonds declaring on BBC Radio 4 “We will build HS2 in full…to Manchester and the eastern leg to Leeds.” A massive commitment. The Manchester leg is one thing; the eastern leg to Leeds was scrapped in 2021…

This morning, however, Shadow Treasury Minister Tulip Siddiq has immediately hit the brakes, telling Times Radio “maybe [Thomas-Symonds] knows something I don’t” about this multi-billion pound splurge, adding she herself would not commit to spending that much on a whim. So either a Shadow Treasury Minister doesn’t know about Labour’s latest spending plans, or Symonds went completely off the rails…