I'll change direction if I think it's right, says Sunak amid HS2 chaos

THE Prime Minister today insisted that he would not shy away from changing direction on flagship policies to secure Britain's long-term interests amid intense speculation over the future of the HS2 rail link.

- Jitendra Joshi 

Rishi Sunak denied that rows over the high-speed project were derailing the Conservative Party conference in Manchester, where Right-wingers such as Liz Truss have been on highly visible manoeuvres ahead of a likely election next year.

"As you saw with my recent decision on net zero, when I make a decision that I think is important, of course I go and explain that to everyone, explain why I'm doing what I'm doing, why I thought it was right to change direction there," he said on BBC Breakfast.

"What I want to do is make the right decision for the country. This is an enormous amount of people's money, taxpayers' money, everybody watching, billions and billions of pounds," he said of HS2. "We shouldn't be rushed into things like that." Tory West Midlands Mayor Andy Street made an impassioned appeal last night for Mr Sunak not to cancel HS2's northern link-reinforced this morning by London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who reiterated that it would be "absurd" not to terminate the line at Euston.

"The Prime Minister has a clear choice - to fulfil promises made by successive governments in the best long-term interests of the country, or backtrack on one of the biggest national infrastructure projects for generations," a spokesman for Mr Khan told the Evening Standard.