HS2 legal deadline threat to NPR plans

The prospective plans for Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) could be watered down if the Government allows the legal protections for the HS2 leg to Crewe to lapse, experts have said.

- by Harriet Sutton

When first conceived by the Conservatives, the two high-speed rail networks crossing the country were interconnected.

HS2 was proposed to go from London Euston to Birmingham and onwards to Manchester and Leeds, while NPR was supposed to connect the great cities of the North with the HS2 line to Manchester Airport as the starting point.

However, in 2021 Boris Johnson scrapped the Leeds leg and in 2023 Rishi Sunak axed the Manchester segment, with mayors describing it as a “betrayal of the North”.