Sir Keir Starmer would save the HS2 rail routes that were previously cut last year when he steps into office. Officially announced on Tuesday, the report showed a major £1.5 billion investment for connection to the rail network, including links from Birmingham to Manchester and Leeds. The announcement correlates with Labour planning to reconsider its transport expenditure amid financial worries.

Sir Keir Starmer is looking at whether to reinstate parts of the High-Speed Two (HS2) rail project cut by former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak. A new report prepared for Labour sets out radical changes to the rail network that could potentially see the restoring of HS2 routes dropped last year.

The report has been compiled by Juergen Maier, a former boss at Siemens UK. This seems to imply that several of the rail projects that were either on the drawing board, shelved, or even scrapped altogether will now have to be completed, like the HS2 lines – running from Birmingham to Manchester and from the Midlands to Leeds. The West Coast Main Line the M6 motorway could be placed under intolerable strain without these new lines, states the report.

Maier’s report also recommends completing a link between HS2’s start point at Old Oak Common in west London and Euston station. Although the report is not a call to revive the full HS2 project or to match its original speeds, the recommendations would in effect piece together most of the parts of the planned network once again.

Sunak switched off the northern part of the HS2 line last year when its costs began spiralling too high, channelling the costs of the project in excess of £100 billion. There will be no further expansion in the line to Euston without private funding.

Maier is writing a report under a request from the Labour Party when they were still in the opposition. This time, Maier’s report is a little tricky for Labour, having formed the government, because if Labour chose to follow his advice, it will mean committing billions of pounds of money that the country can hardly afford.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has already ordered a root-and-branch review of public spending that will report back in the spring. She has already found a £22bn gap in the public finances – with £2.9bn of that related to transport projects that are unfunded, again at this time.

The Treasury has urged the Department for Transport (DfT) to undergo a very tough assessment of its own infrastructure plans. The DfT responded that, despite much excitement in the country over new transport schemes, there are no clear plans or available money to make it happen.

Transport Secretary Louise Haigh, who gave Maier this job of work just last December, said the findings would assist the new Government in deciding what to do next. The DfT states that Haigh is fully committed to transforming Britain’s transport system and making wide-scale changes to public travel.

For it is an 81-page-long call for revolution in how the Government handles transport projects and an encouragement to Labour to take the most ambitious steps in relaunching the country’s rail network.

According to the study by Maier, reviving and completing the development of these rail projects may be of much benefit. For one, it can save the problems that will occur in the existing transport routes. Secondly, it will increase the connection between various major cities. However, there is a need for a lot of money, and the current financial situation may not let the possibility of finding the funds.

Starmer must therefore read the recommendations in the report very keenly and decide on the option of implementing these ambitious proposals. It is a challenge to balance the necessity of better infrastructure in transportation with the reality of constraints in the country’s budget.

In summary, the debate on whether the routes should be brought back is still ensuing. Juergen Maier brought a new report, listing several key rail projects that need installing. It’s now left upon the Labour government to consider what it will do and what it cannot following the country’s financial constraints.