London-Birmingham phase will go ahead immediately and HS2 minister will be appointed

What Boris Johnson's HS2 announcement will mean for the country

Boris Johnson has announced that HS2 will go ahead in full, along with transport improvements around the country. But what exactly will that mean?

• The first phase of the high-speed rail network, from London to Birmingham, will go ahead immediately, largely as planned.

• The prime minister said HS2 would be built in the north to Manchester and Leeds – but “simultaneously permitting us to go ahead with Northern Powerhouse Rail”. The second phase will be reviewed – potentially meaning other schemes, such as parts of Northern Powerhouse Rail, could be prioritised.

• A new body is expected to run both NPR and HS2 beyond Crewe, with the government planning to rebrand all the programmes as High Speed North.

• A minister for HS2, whose sole responsibility is the high-speed rail project, will be appointed.

• The rebuilding of London Euston station will be taken away from HS2 Ltd and overseen as a separate project. (That likely means trains will only run as far south as Old Oak Common in west London for several years when services start).

• There will be “a full-time oversight group” to monitor HS2 Ltd. Johnson said the company had “not made the task easier” and had handled communities along the route badly.

• The prime minister said the forecast budget for phase one, according to the infrastructure project authority, was £35bn-£45bn

• He also promised a £5bn investment in bus and bicycles. He said: “The transport revolution is local. It must be local. Greener, cleaner, more frequent.” However, he added, to justify HS2: “But we cannot make these improvements in isolation from one another … We’ll only be doing half the job. We have to fix the spine.”