Sunak's Doom Loop Takes Britain Nowhere Fast

The gap between Britain’s North and South is wider than the gulf between East and West Germany on the eve of unification — and has a credible claim to be the country’s biggest economic challenge. In October, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak canceled a landmark high-speed rail line that was designed to help narrow the divide, saying the £36 billion ($46 billion) saved would be invested in hundreds of transport projects across the nation that would benefit far more people far more quickly. His own infrastructure advisers seem far from convinced.

There’s a risk of a “doom loop” for public transport in which insufficient funding requires cuts to services, which then further reduce fare-paying passengers and therefore revenue, the National Infrastructure Commission said in a progress review released last week. The agency, set up by former Conservative Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne to provide expert advice to the government, criticized the decision to scrap the northern leg of High Speed 2, or HS2, without putting in place a concrete plan to improve transport connections in the North and Midlands, saying this would inhibit economic growth in the regions.