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Monday, 15 June 2026

Surely Andy, this dead horse is already buried



Andy Burnham says he 'would revive HS2' if he became prime minister

Andy Burnham has said he 'would revive HS2' if he became Prime Minister by using a 'Crossrail style' of funding.

The Greater Manchester Mayor said that he would revive the northern leg of HS2, between Birmingham and Manchester, as he claimed the 'lack of high-quality rail infrastructure in the north of England holds back its growth potential'.

Speaking to the i Paper about what he would do if he became Prime Minister, Burnham said 'if you put that infrastructure in, it lays the foundations for higher growth'.



He was ineffectual and vaguely helpless here as he had always been. One of those personalities who, in spite of all their words, are inarticulate, he seemed to have inherited only the vast tradition of human failure — that, and the sense of death.

F. Scott Fitzgerald - The Beautiful and Damned (1922)

6 comments:

Chris said...

Anyone who thinks Burnham and Rayner are the answers, is asking really bad questions......

A K Haart said...

Chris - I agree. It's not easy to admit, but they could be worse than Starmer.

Doonhamer said...

Who in Brum or Manchester really wants to get somewhere near London twenty minutes faster?
And the reverse journey ditto?I
Other than Very Important Politicians on exes.

A K Haart said...

Doonhamer - maybe the whole thing is to be first class only for those Very Important Politicians on exes. Nobody else is interested.

johnd said...

I have traveled extensively by rail both in the old steam days and on the modern electric version. I found the modern trains to be fast, comfortable and generally run to time as advertised.London to Carlisle in 3 hours is not excessive and spending a vast fortune to take 15 minutes off the journey is lunacy. Most of the difficulties in a journey are in getting to and from the station to the final destination.

A K Haart said...

John - "Most of the difficulties in a journey are in getting to and from the station to the final destination."

We very rarely travel by rail, but that's our experience. Rail is generally okay but lopping a bit of time off the rail part of the whole journey is never going to be worthwhile.