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Minister blames Tory 'mess' as HS2 is delayed beyond 2033
The Guardian
|June 19, 2025
The high-speed rail network HS2 cannot be delivered on its current schedule and budget and will be delayed beyond 2033, the government has said, putting the blame on previous Tory administrations.
Heidi Alexander, the transport secretary, told parliament there was "no reasonable way" to meet the 2033 target for HS2 trains to run between London and Birmingham, after receiving a bleak assessment from the new HS2 Ltd chief executive, Mark Wild.
In a letter to Alexander, Wild said the "overall situation with respect to cost, schedule and scope is unsustainable" and suggested the government would have to renegotiate engineering contracts awarded in 2020.
This story is from the June 19, 2025 edition of The Guardian.
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