General   (General discussion, talk about anything.)

The cancellation of the Manchester leg of HS2 is probably a reaction to the increase in cost of servicing UK debt. The credit rating agency Fitch is forecasting payments this year of £110 billion, over 10% of government income. With US interest rates forecast to go higher UK debt servicing costs will follow suit. This will entail some difficult public spending cuts in other areas.
Current servicing costs have risen twice as fast as at any other time.
Had the Manchester leg gone ahead there was a risk that costs would exceed the current £36 billion savings arising from its cancellation.