Rishi Sunak is wrong to amputate Britain’s high-speed rail line

On October 4thHSHSHS Rishi Sunak declared that 2, a high-speed rail line designed to connect London and the north of England, would not extend beyond Birmingham to . Britain’s prime minister made this announcement at the Tory party conference—in Manchester. In what was once a railway station. During a . Full marks for chutzpah, but what about the decision?To be fair to Mr Sunak, this was not an easy call. Costs have spiralled horribly. The total bill for 2 was first put at £37.5bn ($62bn at the time) and may end up close to £100bn. Value for money matters. Making pledges to do whatever it takes might work for wartime administrations and central bankers, but it is no way to run the public finances. Even so, . It doesn’t make sense in its own terms. And the problems that bedevil 2 are deep-seated ones that only the government can solve. Cancelling the project does not just leave them unsolved. It exacerbates them.