The British prime minister said he would pull the plug on a costly but potentially transformative line to Manchester that was a cornerstone of his party’s pledge to “level up” the north of England.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak hopes his governing party’s annual conference can lift his ailing poll numbers. Predecessors and would-be successors have other priorities.
Transport problems are just one symptom of the economic neglect that has long hobbled the region, where growth, employment and health care mostly lag far behind the south.