King’s Speech to revive pared down HS2 bill
Aimed at facilitating a new route between Liverpool and Manchester, the modified High Speed Rail (Crewe – Manchester) Bill would allow for the development of new stations at Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Airport.
In his speech to Parliament on Wednesday, King Charles III is expected to include the bill in his list of the government’s priorities for the next year.
The HS2 bill was largely eviscerated by former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak when he scrapped the £36bn high-speed rail link between Birmingham and Manchester in 2023.
However, a small part has been retained to enable this government’s £45bn push for Northern Powerhouse Rail. This is a small section where NPR and HS2 had been meant to overlap, which includes a stretch leading into Manchester Airport and up to Manchester Piccadilly.
It is this portion that makes up the present-day bill, which secretary for transport Heidi Alexander moved back in February to carry over into the 2026-27 parliamentary session.
By keeping the bill in play, the government is giving itself the powers required to see this bit of track delivered and potentially build the new stations.
When introducing a motion to carry forward the HS2 bill, Alexander said: “This is categorically not about reinstating HS2 north of the West Midlands, and neither are these motions about addressing the longer-term capacity constraints of the West Coast Main Line between Manchester and Birmingham.
“Instead, the motions are simply focused on ensuring that the government follow the speediest and most logical consenting route to progressing plans for a new rail line between Liverpool and Manchester—a line that will also call at Warrington and Manchester airport,” she continued.
“This new line, which will connect two great cities in the North of England, is part of the second phase of Northern Powerhouse Rail, which this government committed to last month.”
Call me cynical but how many times have we been here? Empty Westminster politics promises, always seemingly coinciding with when they need northern votes. And then a few years of kicking the can down the road, slippy timelines, and hollow words.
Westminster politics was told decades ago that it needed to invest more in northern England or risk a political blow-up. For years and years they ignored the north, cancelled tram/metro/HS2 and other infrastructure projects. Now they are surprised that Green/Reform have surged.
By Anonymous
Absolutely idiotic ! There are already two rail lines between Manchester and Liverpool; we don’t need a third, especially as it will be longer and no faster than the existing electrified route. There is also already a rail line from central Manchester to the airport, which actually goes into the airport, unlike this resurrected HS2 nonsense with its station outside the airport perimiter. The HS2 fragment would also be all in tunnel at vast expense, currently includes a surface station at Piccadilly not the underground one that Manchester wants, and has no funding. This is just fantasy politics !
By Phil
@Phil “the north west has too much rail capacity” is certainly a take
By Anonymous
Phil, you are talking nonsense. A new line between Manchester and Liverpool is absolutely necessary to meet growing demand, ease freight congestion and create improved links to the rest of the north.
By Anonymous
Should also be noted that the Birmingham – Manchester line will also link Liverpool via the new Liverpool – Manchester line. It’s about capacity and is needed there is plenty of evidence to back this up
By Frank
A new limited stop line exclusively for fast trains will free up space for a frequent tram-train stopping service to Warrington Central. Currently fast and slow trains disrupt each other.
By Wolfie
Labour need to put spades in the ground on major projects of this scale by the end of this Parliament to avoid total capitulation.
(Actual spades in the ground, not political admin that is lost on most people.)
It was a hard task in 5 years, it’s even harder in 3 years.
By Anonymous
Never mind another rail link to Manchester airport. Why isn’t Rotherham pushing hard to have a direct rail link to Liverpool airport instead of pandering to Andy Burnham. I don’t have anything against Andy but I just wish he would share just one of his brain cells and give it to Rotherham.
By Stephen Hart
Great news, if this actually happens. This country is absolutely useless at investing in infrastructure, particularly in the North. When I travel to Europe I’m always so disappointed to see trains running well, punctually and quickly..in comparison to our highly congested, slow and antiquated system. Scrapping HS2 north of Birmingham will go down in history as one of the biggest short termism decisions ever made in this country, made by an unelected politician, and by a Government that strangled the North.
By Anonymous
Let’s get on with it!!
By Yayyyy
This government are all talk. They promised spades in the ground for light rail in West Yorkshire, in 2028. That has now been put back 10 years.
By Elephant
This is all a dream more fake promises from Westminster and keir starmer should resign
By Jay
Good stuff, but no mention of the development of central station in Liverpool. Also,what about the new station in the new line that allow access to the airport
By George
The Tories let down the north by spending tens of billions on London crossrail and HS2 south then cancelling everything in the north.
You are correct Labour need to put spades in the ground in this parliament otherwise they will get elected out in 2029 and Reform (London) UK will cancel all northern rail projects so Farage and his city of London mates can focus on the capital
By Anonymous
We need better railsystem in the north. Our rail is shocking we in the north of england get nothing.
By Anonymous
Does Heidi Alexander think we are idiots and that we can’t recognise that this is building HS2 and one of the most expensive bits of it for that matter by the backdoor ?
Can we also stop saying this proposed alignment alongside the Western elevation of the M56 is ‘Manchester Airport’ ? If it was about serving Manchester Airport then it would go under the airport with a below ground station! This is nothing more than a Parkway for Manchester!
Keeping this alignment means reversing at Manchester Piccadilly which is inadequate according to Mr Burnham. If Manchester is to have a through underground station then it needs a new alignment or billions more will have to be spent to make it do a ‘U’ turn under Manchester!
By Michael
Labour are missing a trick here. If they do actually start building part of a northern high speed line (NPR or HS2) by 2029 they can ask Reform if they will commit or cancel the line. And if Reform confirm that they will cancel the line Labour can (rightly) blame Reform for not investing in the north. Labour have a chance of an open goal here if only they can get their act together and start building something before the next election.
By Anonymous
They need to build the entire Crewe – Manchester leg, safeguard the entrance to Crewe, speed up Manchester – Birmingham/London journeys and enhance services between Manchester and the South
By Anonymous
Michael, I hope you are right and HS2 is being built by the backdoor. Cancelling HS2 from Birmingham to Manchester was an act of political vandalism.
By Anonymous
@ Anonymous May 13 – this element only stacks up economically if the Liverpool link is built as well via the Northern Powerhouse route. It should go ahead as soon as possible.
By Frank
The Civil Servants in Westminster and in their Manchester outpost are programmed to favour Manchester’s interests. This has been the case for about the last 30 years and if HS2 happens it will be the same. Andrew Adonis asked the Civil servants to come up with a model and they chose Brum, Manc, and Leeds as the destinations, and the only thing that’s changed since then is that Leeds has been scrapped. The proper route for a high-speed line should been to Glasgow, with fast spurs going to Manc and Lpool.
By Anonymous