The case for going ahead with high-speed rail to Manchester is strong

Editorial: A prime minister who boasts about making ‘long-term decisions for a brighter future’ should make the right one on HS2

The original plan for the lines to Manchester and to East Midlands Parkway will prove to be good value over time (PA Media)

Ten days after The Independent brought HS2 firmly back onto the political agenda by revealing that Rishi Sunak and Jeremy Hunt were locked in talks about scrapping the second stage of the high-speed railway, the prime minister and his chancellor are still undecided.

We do not criticise them for taking so long: this is an important decision and it is worth getting it right. But the length of time they are taking suggests that the decision remains in the balance, and that it is, therefore, worth rehearsing the argument for HS2.

Indeed, that is what Boris Johnson, David Cameron, George Osborne and Sadiq Khan – an otherwise unlikely coalition – have done from outside government. And it is what Michael Gove, the levelling-up secretary, is said to be doing from inside government.