The colossal HS2 bill could cost the north its much-needed railway

The billions spent connecting London and Birmingham threaten the vital second stage connecting the rural north, argues Chris Blackhurst

Lost opportunity: the rural north is crying out for better transport services (Getty)

By now, if things had gone to plan, we would have been stuck deep in to Leveson 2 – the second part of the judicial inquiry into the behaviour of the British press, following the phone-hacking scandal.

In many ways, this latter bit was always going to be the more interesting, delayed until after the criminal prosecutions were completed, and intended to look into the relationship between sections of the media and the police. But, to the fury of campaigners for press reform, Leveson 2 has been canned. The official reason given is that the media landscape has changed since the whole Leveson review was first established, and justice has already been served with the criminal cases. Unofficially, within Westminster and Whitehall, the world has moved on, the momentum has gone, and there is simply no appetite for it.

The Leveson experience is worth referencing in the context of another cause celebre, similarly a focus for much political huffing and puffing – one that is far bigger in scope and cost, but is also intended to be enacted in two sections. I refer to HS2, the new high-speed railway between London, Birmingham and the north.