Cumberland Council have said that scrapping HS2 is a ‘huge, missed opportunity’ for Cumbria after the prime minister announced that the northern leg is to be scrapped.

Mr Sunak confirmed plans to cancel the leg of HS2 from Birmingham to Manchester in his keynote speech at the Conservative Party conference, but said that 'every penny' of the planned £36 billion leg would instead be spent on key infrastructure.

In Cumbria, he promised to ‘upgrade' the energy coast train line linking Carlisle, Workington and Barrow.

The upgrade would 'improve capacity and journey times' on the line, enabling trains every 30 minutes between Carlisle, Workington, and Whitehaven, according to the government.

HS2 trains were set to call at Oxenholme, Penrith and Carlisle stations which were to become ‘integrated high-speed stations’ where passengers could catch HS2 trains and access the high-speed network to the south.

Cumberland Council have said they are ‘pleased’ to hear of the government’s plans for the energy coast line but have slammed the government for the ‘genuinely disappointing’ decision to scrap HS2 north of Birmingham.

“The decision to scrap the northern leg of HS2 is really disappointing but sadly not surprising,” said Cllr Denise Rollo, executive member for sustainable, resilient and connected places.

“This is a huge, missed opportunity, not just for Cumbria, but for the entire country.

“Just last week, I met with leaders from various businesses and cross-party political spheres at the Transport for the North (TfN) Board meeting where we unanimously agreed on the importance of completing both HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) to truly revolutionise the North of England.

“Making sure Cumbria was featured on the High-Speed Rail map was important to our region’s future growth and investment so the decision to withdraw the northern leg of HS2 without a clear alternative plan is genuinely disappointing.”

Her comments were echoed by the Labour candidate for Carlisle, Julie Minns, who said: "The cancellation of HS2 north of Birmingham nails the lie that the Conservatives were ever committed to levelling-up Carlisle and north Cumbria.

“In his speech the Prime Minister attempted to justify the cancellation by pointing to the importance of east-west connectivity in areas like ours but proposed to do absolutely nothing to improve the rail service between Carlisle and Newcastle.

“Whilst I welcome the proposed upgrade to the Cumbrian Coastal Rail Line, I do not believe that the same party that ripped-up branch lines, privatised our buses, and is intent on closing rail ticket offices, can be trusted to deliver any upgrade in public transport.”

The prime minister’s decision has been welcomed by the region’s Conservative MPs, with Carlisle MP, John Stevenson arguing that the energy coast upgrade was more ‘relevant’ to Cumbria.

“The investment announced by the prime minister is extremely welcome in Cumbria and I’m delighted,” said Mr Stevenson.

“HS2 is undoubtedly a loss and in an ideal world we could have both but the energy coast line upgrade is more relevant for people in Cumbria and the benefits will be felt quicker.”

Workington MP, Mark Jenkinson said: “Network North will make public transport across West Cumbria quicker and easier. I warmly welcome today's announcement from the Prime Minister, focussing on better connecting our region”.

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Carlisle’s Liberal Democrat candidate, Cllr Brian Wernham, has called for 45-minute journey between Carlisle and Newcastle on the train.

““I was initially supportive of HS2,” said Cllr Wernham, “but a decade of mismanagement from the government and concentrating entirely on the south has meant we’re essentially going to get a very expensive train set running from Birmingham to London.

“Instead, at one thousandth of the cost, we could have fast trains taking 45 minutes between Newcastle and Carlisle and Carlisle and Whitehaven which would take cars off the road and open up Carlisle to surrounding areas.”

More information about the details of the upgrade to the energy coast line are yet to be released.