Lord Heseltine and George Osborne have warned Rishi Sunak that scrapping the Birmingham to Manchester leg of HS2 would be an “act of huge economic self-harm”. 

The former deputy prime minister and the former chancellor said axing the northern leg of the high speed railway would be short sighted and harm the Government’s levelling up claims. 

Writing together in The Times, they said: “It would be an act of huge economic self-harm, and be a decision of such short-sightedness that we urge the Prime Minister: Don’t do it. 

“How could you ever again claim to be levelling up when you cancel the biggest levelling-up project? How could you claim to be taking difficult decisions for the long term, when you abandon the single largest piece of infrastructure the country is building?”

The intervention by the two Tory heavyweights came as Mr Sunak considers whether to scrap or delay the Birmingham to Manchester leg of HS2 in response to soaring costs.

Defence Secretary Grant Shapps said yesterday it would be “crazy” not to reconsider the project in the light of the rising price tag and the UK’s economic situation.

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