Manchester mayor Andy Burnham says North faces ‘Armageddon’ without HS2 rail links

https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/hs2-andy-burnham-manchester-north-trains-transport-b2617884.html

Posted by F0urLeafCl0ver

12 Comments

  1. It’s not just HS2, Rachel Reeves has cancelled the whole [Restoring Your Railway project](https://archive.is/owDuM#selection-457.0-457.22) which is supposed to build a lot of railways in the North, around Sheffield, York, North Wales, and so on. Public transport is desperately needed here but this is just another example of Westminster axing plans to bring the North up to parity with the South.

  2. I like Burnham, but he needs to realise that the North is not just Manchester.

    It will be gutting if we finally break the stranglehold of London to see it given to Manchester.

  3. Communalbuttplug on

    “Why do they need high speed rail? Can’t they just borrow their billionaire mates Bentley? Or if they really need to get there quick just borrow a billionaires helicopter?”

    Two Tier Kier (probably)

    Before all the cultists pipe up demanding a source, it’s just a joke.

    I know there is no evidence of him or labour accepting travel.

    Just clothes, glasses outfits for his wife NYC apartments for his son and work mates etc.

  4. Charming-Potato4804 on

    Is Armageddon not going to be a global thing?

    It would be amazing if it started in Manchester instead of the Middle East!

  5. FinbarrSaunders69 on

    Impressive hyperbole. We’ve managed without all this time without nuking ourselves from orbit 😂 also the last time I checked his beloved Manchester was doing alright for itself anyway.

    Plus it was only really going to benefit Manchester and maybe Leeds. Anywhere north of that was being ignored, as always.

    (And yes, before anyone says it, we would have benefited in a roundabout way by freeing up and / or increasing capacity on the ECML but we weren’t getting any new shiny trains in Newcastle).

  6. Celestial__Peach on

    It’s utter bollox this project. Marketed as England and Wales, barely touches areas in England and doesn’t even go through Wales!

  7. Didn’t you know that the world doesn’t exist outside of London , doesn’t matter where you are , everywhere else outside of London could just be one big housing estate and whoever was in government would be okay with that.

    The only way any schemes like this would get funding is if there was some benefit to mass investment in the UK.

    The same reason why Rishi wouldn’t penalise the energy industry as he wanted their investment in the North Sea.

    Want favourable coverage in the media , then you court the likes of Rupert Murdoch.

    You could argue Elon Musk has some power to influence opinion with his bough soapbox , he could cause mass insurrection in America , and as long as he has controlling interest in the likes of space x , he’s not going to have anything occur to him.

    What they do care about , regardless of which party is sitting there, is keeping key institutions happy , otherwise anything they push for is much harder .

    They are not for the people . I

    People often complain about their local MP’s since the GE, but at the end of the day they’re being required to vote by the whip , at the cost of not getting what they need or want tabled ordering the whip

  8. Past-Attempt1145 on

    And you know for certain that if it is needed in London, then London will get it, no doubt about it at all. Country’s a load of shit, not sure why we bother with these pricks at all