Old Oak Common? That's well-connected, says Sunak

THE Prime Minister today praised Old Oak Common's connections to the rest of London and Heathrow as "very strong" amid speculation that he is set to shunt a longer HS2 into the sidings.

- Jitendra Joshi

In a round of interviews with BBC local radio stations, Rishi Sunak was grilled about the future of the highspeed railway project amid growing expectations that he will shelve HS2's final link into Euston, and its Birmingham-Manchester leg, as costs rocket.

Ahead of the Conservatives' annual conference in Manchester, Mr Sunak stressed that there were already "spades S in the ground" to build HS2 from London to Birmingham. But he added that the Government was always making sure "we get value for money" as he flagged up the importance of funding other transport projects such as rural bus services, fixing road potholes and connecting Northern towns and cities.