‘Network North’ HS2 savings spent on London pothole repair

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Labour mayors have accused the government of insulting northern England after it promoted pothole funding for London as part of “Network North”, Rishi Sunak’s plan to redirect high speed rail money to local transport upgrades.

In a post on social media platform X, the Department for Transport on Wednesday announced £235mn for road surfacing in the capital, which it said had been taken from “rerouted HS2 funding”.

The Birmingham to Manchester leg of the high speed rail scheme was cancelled by the prime minister in October. He also announced plans to cut £6.5bn from the cost of the HS2 terminus planned at London Euston.

The DfT’s post featured the branding for Network North, the ministers’ plan to invest in local transport links instead of HS2. Government officials said the funding referred to in the post came from the Euston cost savings.

But northern Labour politicians said the announcement showed how money that would have been invested in the north through the HS2 rail project was now being spent in the more prosperous south of the country.

“This announcement is a pretty insulting reminder that the transformative, long-term investment we were promised is instead being parcelled out everywhere else under the banner of Network North,” said Andy Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester.

“It would be a nice idea, if it was a network, and it was in the North,” he added.

Liverpool city region’s Labour mayor Steve Rotheram joked that the announcement suggested that Network North was shorthand for “Network North Circular”, a reference to one of London’s main ring roads.

Network North was launched by Sunak in his October Tory party conference speech as he cancelled the northern leg of HS2.

His HS2 decision prompted anger from northern business and political leaders, who warned the failure to build the high speed rail line in full would hold back the northern economy and disrupt plans for further rail connectivity between northern cities. 

Network North, which comprises a long list of road and rail projects, has also attracted criticism, not least because an initial map detailing the plan located towns and cities in the wrong places. The initial announcement also promised funding for transport projects that already existed.

National Infrastructure Commission chair Sir John Armitt last month said the Network North plan had “not been designed in any sense of detail whatsoever” and suggested the government’s cost-cutting plans for Euston were not achievable.

Nearly a quarter of Network North’s claimed HS2 savings have been reallocated for spending on potholes nationwide.

Henri Murison, chief executive of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership of northern businesses, said ministers should be focused on delivering “the vital infrastructure projects which do remain”, including east-west rail links across the north, rather than more piecemeal investments.

A Conservative official said Network North would mean “better journeys for everyone across the country, with the lion’s share of investment in the north and midlands”.

The transport department declined to comment further.