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Pressed on the timing of the HS2 decision, Tory transport secretary Mark Harper claimed despite the video being filmed before Mr Sunak left Downing Street, no decision had been signed off until Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cI took the formal final decision on Tuesday, and it was agreed by the Cabinet at its meeting on Wednesday morning and then announced properly by the Prime Minister to the country in his conference speech\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t really know why people are getting so het up about this particular issue.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Burley didn\u2019t accept his exasperation, pointing out: \u201cYou knew about it at the beginning of the week and you didn\u2019t tell us!\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy did he record a video saying it had been scrapped when it hadn\u2019t been?\u201d<\/p>\n
Don’t miss… <\/strong> We use your sign-up to provide content in ways you’ve consented to and to improve our understanding of you. This may include adverts from us and 3rd parties based on our understanding. You can unsubscribe at any time. More info<\/p>\n After Mr Harper repeated that the decision had only been taken by Cabinet yesterday morning, the Sky presenter doubled down: \u201cWhy did he say it had been scrapped when it hadn\u2019t then, because you say a decision was only made on Tuesday, this was filmed at least before last Sunday\u201d.<\/p>\n The Transport secretary said he and Ms Burley \u201ccould keep going around this circle if you want, I\u2019ve been very clear about what happened with the details\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m very happy to answer the substantive questions about the decision we made for your viewers\u201d.<\/p>\n A furious Kay Burley cut him off, saying: \u201cOk minister, with due respect I do the questions if you don\u2019t mind – I\u2019ll decide what I\u2019m asking you during this eight minutes that we have!\u201d<\/p>\n Two days after he seemingly filmed a video confirming the scrapping of HS2\u2019s northern leg, he told the BBC: “Look, there’s already spades in the ground and we’re getting on with delivering it\u201d.<\/p>\n “I’m not going to comment on all this speculation. We’ve got a project, we’ve got spades in the ground and we’re getting on with it but it’s right to focus on levelling up.”<\/p>\n The PM\u2019s spokesman said: \u201cThe decision was taken by cabinet this morning. Of course the prime minister has done a lot of work on it over a number of weeks but legal responsibility of the decision lies with the transport secretary and a decision isn\u2019t a decision until the cabinet signs it off\u201d.<\/p>\n
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