Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, what recent assessment he has made of the economic benefits of High Speed Two to Manchester.

The full business case for High Speed 2 Phase One ‘Moving Britain Ahead’ was published in April 2020. This sets out the latest assessment of the economic impacts of HS2.

Previous analysis suggested that around 18% of the overall transport user benefits will be distributed to passengers from the North West with the full HS2 network in place (HS2 Ltd’s ‘Economic case advice for the DfT’ publication in 2017).

Passengers from Manchester and across the North West will benefit from improved connectivity and reduced journeys times to and within the North. Better connectivity promotes wider economic growth and potential gains from regeneration and local growth strategies supporting the levelling up of the UK economy.

As part of the Integrated Rail Plan for the North and Midlands we will look at how best to integrate HS2 Phase 2b and wider transport plans in the north and Midlands as well as how best to reduce costs.