One of Rishi Sunak’s predecessors has attacked the decision to scrap the northern leg of HS2 to Manchester, saying the prime minister had “thrown away 15 years of cross-party consensus” and made future infrastructure projects much harder.
Conservative former prime minister David Cameron condemned the decision as losing a “once-in-a-generation opportunity”.
Mr Sunak used his Conservative Party conference speech to promise to put the £36 billion of savings into a raft of other transport schemes.
He also unveiled radical plans to stamp out cigarette-smoking for future generations, announcing plans for a UK smoking ban by raising the legal smoking age by one year every year. It means a 14-year-old today will never legally be able to buy a cigarette.
However, it’s understood another of Mr Sunak’s predecessors, Liz Truss, will vote against the plan, raising the prospect of other right-wingers trying to join her in blocking it.
The PM also pledged to crack down on the sale of disposable vapes to children, saying more must be done to restrict their availability to under-18s.
The Independent first revealed secret talks to scrap the link beyond Birmingham.
