A £2billion rail link to Glasgow was quietly scrapped yesterday while Boris Johnson attempted to cling onto power in Downing Street.
Tory Ministers announced on Monday they were removing the Golborne Link from HS2 which would have connected high speed trains from the North West of England onto the West Coast main line to Glasgow.
No back-up plan has been published for the 13-mile stretch of track with ministers saying they are attempting to "find a solution".
The decision comes following a recommendation from the independent Union Connectivity Review, according to the government website.
The review urged the UK Government to find different options to the Golborne Link and recommended both Scottish and UK government's work together.
An announcement was made on the government website while the Prime Minister was looking to sure up support ahead of a confidence vote in his leadership.
He eventually won the vote by 211 votes to 148.
HS2 Minister Andrew Stephenson made the announcement and said "we’ve left no stone unturned when it comes to working with our Scottish counterparts".
He added: "Ahead of the government’s response to the Union Connectivity Review, we can confirm the government will look again at alternatives which deliver similar benefits to Scotland as the Golborne link, so long as these deliver for the taxpayer within the £96 billion envelope allocated for the Integrated Rail Plan.
"We will look at the potential for these alternatives to bring benefits to passengers sooner, allowing improved Scotland services from Manchester and Manchester Airport, as well as from Birmingham and London.
"HS2 trains will continue to serve Wigan and Preston, as well as Lancaster, Cumbria and Scotland.
"HS2 is a once-in-a-lifetime project that will transform travel across the entire UK as we know it and serve millions of people for hundreds of years to come and it’s absolutely vital that we get this right from the outset.
"Removing this link is about ensuring that we’ve left no stone unturned when it comes to working with our Scottish counterparts to find a solution that will best serve the great people of Scotland."
A government source told the Mirror that Monday’s formal announcement had been in the diary for weeks.
'Sleekit move'
The SNP's Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, Gavin Newlands MP hit out at the Tories over the move.
He said: "This sleekit move sums up Boris Johnson’s tenure as Prime Minister – cowardly and shameful.
"His decision to announce this crucial cut on the same day as his Vote of No Confidence – knowing full well it would fall off the radar – is despicable.
"The original investment would have drastically improved Scotland’s rail links with the north west of England, but yet again this Westminster government is tearing it apart.
"Whether it’s promising to improve rail links in Scotland, building a multi-billion-pound bridge between Scotland and Northern Ireland, or investing £1 billion in carbon capture in the north east - nothing that comes out of Boris Johnson’s mouth can be trusted.
"Time and time again, the SNP Scottish Government has been forced to work with one hand tied behinds its back, while the UK Tory government impose cuts and scrap pledges. This has to end.
"That is why the only way to achieve a fairer and more equal country is for Scotland to become an independent country."
While Scottish Labour MP Ian Murray said: “Scrapping the link between the North West of England and Glasgow without any alternative plan is yet another nail in the coffin for faster journey times to Scotland.
"We have the opportunity to create an economic counterweight to London and the South East by linking the north of England and Scotland, but this Tory government are totally out of ideas. It’s not levelling up but levelling down.
"People in Scotland are stuck between two governments failing the railways - an SNP administration unable to get trains running on time, and a Conservative government breaking promise after promise, leaving Scots stuck in the slow lane for decades to come."
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