Tory MPs have called on the prime minister to commit to the northern leg of HS2, after ministers refused to confirm that the rail link will ever reach Manchester.
Facing a series of questions in the Commons, Richard Holden, the transport minister, declined to dispute claims that Rishi Sunak was on the verge of curtailing the project.
The intervention comes as Sunak and Jeremy Hunt, the chancellor, are locked in talks over how to cut spiralling costs on the troubled scheme.
Holden was criticised by a succession of Conservative MPs, who warned that starting the line in outer London and ending it in Birmingham would be an “enormous false economy” and damage growth in the North.
Meanwhile, splits have emerged in Labour over HS2 after Pat McFadden, the party’s election campaign co-ordinator, said at the weekend that the party would not commit to the project until it knew the full extent of the cost overruns.
He was contradicted by another shadow cabinet minister, Nick Thomas-Symonds, who told the BBC the party would build HS2 “in full”.
