HS2 Will Run Through To London Euston, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt Says

The HS2 rail line will go all the way to London Euston, the chancellor has said, following a report the scheme may no longer reach the capital's centre.

The Sun reported that rising inflation and construction costs mean trains may terminate in west London instead.

The paper said bosses were considering pushing back its Euston terminus to 2038, or scrapping it completely.

Jeremy Hunt said he did not "see any conceivable circumstances" why it would "not end up at Euston".

HS2, or High Speed 2, was originally intended to connect London with Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds.

The leg to Leeds has since been scrapped.

The Sun had reported that the move would mean trains would run from a new hub at Old Oak Common, about five miles (8km) away, and commuters would have to use the Elizabeth Line or Tube to travel to central London.

When asked if he, and the government, were committed to HS2 going all the way to London Euston, Jeremy Hunt said: "Yes we are and I don't see any conceivable circumstances to why that will not end up at Euston."

Earlier, in a speech setting out his long-term vision for economic growth, the chancellor said HS2 was a "specific priority for me in the Autumn Statement".

He said the government was "absolutely committed to showing that we can deliver big important infrastructure projects".

"That is why in the Autumn Statement we protected key projects like HS2, East West Rail and core Northern Powerhouse Rail", he said.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said the government was "committed to delivering on the plans it's announced with rail".

The Sun also reported that a two to five-year delay to the entire project is also being considered.

Speaking at Bloomberg's European HQ, in London, Mr Hunt said he was "incredibly proud that under a Conservative government for the first time we have shovels in the ground".

"But large infrastructure projects still take too long and if we are to deliver our ambitions we need to find a way to speed them up."

Martin McTague from the head of the Federation of Small Businesses said HS2 was an "enormous boost" for economic prospects in the Midlands.

"It's part of the levelling up process and I think if it falls short in west London then that defeats many of the objectives of the line," he told the BBC.

Work on the first phase of the project - between London and Birmingham - is well under way and that part of the line is due to open by 2033.

But the project has faced delays and mounting concerns over the exact route and its potential environmental impact.

The estimated cost of HS2 was between £72bn and £98bn at 2019 prices. A budget of £55.7bn for the whole of HS2 was set in 2015 - but this was made before the Leeds leg was cancelled.

A report published last October found it was unlikely that the £40.3bn target for the first section of the line would be met.

Transport Secretary Mark Harper said HS2 was "experiencing high levels of inflation" and it was working with "suppliers actively to mitigate inflationary increases".

Research from the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy and Office for National Statistics published in September showed that construction materials across the UK experienced inflation of 18% from August 2021 to August 2022.

Mr Harper said inflation was not affecting the "overall affordability of HS2 in real terms" but it was "creating pressures against its existing annual funding settlements".

Henri Murison, CEO of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, said that if the HS2 rail link did not go to Euston, this would have "a number of significant disadvantages".

"Because actually people in the north of England, people in Birmingham, will want to get access to central London - that's what they currently have through the normal mainline network", he told the BBC.

However, Lord Tony Berkeley questioned whether more services to London were needed and said money would be better spent on local and regional services.

The Labour peer, who in 2019 was deputy chairman of a government review into HS2, said: "My view is that we should aim for the regions - the north and the Midlands - to have a commuter service as good as in the south-east."

The head of the National Infrastructure Commission, Sir John Armitt, told BBC News in November that cutting back on the HS2 rail route would be "silly".

"I think you've got massive investment, which has happened in Birmingham ahead of HS2 - it just shows what can happen.

"And Manchester of course equally is now seeing investment off the back of HS2. I think that would be a very strange decision," he said.

Pressure group Stop HS2 said it believed the project would increase carbon emissions and damage areas of natural beauty. Protesters, including veteran eco-protester Swampy, have built tunnels in an attempt to disrupt HS2 construction.

A senior figure at the Department for Transport warned last week that "quite tough decisions" could lie ahead for the scheme.