THE government was accused of treating the people living in northern England as “second-class citizens” today after doubts surfaced about the future of the HS2 rail link from Birmingham to Manchester.

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham said abandoning the Manchester link would turn the north-south divide into a chasm.

The link from Birmingham to Leeds was already cancelled two years ago, he pointed out.

Doubts over the Manchester link arose when government ministers refused to state that it is going ahead, with Downing Street citing “affordability pressures” due to high inflation.

Former transport secretary Grant Shapps said it would be “irresponsible” to carry on spending on the project as costs continued to accelerate. 

Mr Burnham said that in addition to the HS2 link from Birmingham to Manchester, investment was also desperately needed on the “Victorian” rail network between northern cities.

But he said the north may be forced to choose between the HS2 link and east-west services in the region.

“An east-west line is really important for the north, as well as north-south,” he said.

“Why is it always that people here are forced to choose? That we can’t have everything: ‘you can have this or you can have that but you can’t have both.’

“London never has to choose between a north-south line and an east-west line and good public transport within the city.

“Why are we always treated as second-class citizens when it comes to transport?”

He said the government had promised to “level-up” life in the north.

“If they leave a situation where the southern half of the country is connected by modern high-speed lines, and the north of England is left with Victorian infrastructure, that is a recipe for the north-south divide to become a north-south chasm over the rest of this century,” he said.

“And that is why people here are fed up with false promises and also watching now what seems to be the desperate acts of a dying government. 

“This is really not right and not fair to people here who were given so many promises.”

PM Rishi Sunak said he is “committed to levelling up” despite declining to back HS2 to the north.