Prime Minister Boris Johnson visits Doncaster as HS2 is axed … and agrees to go to Yorkshire Wildlife Park

The PM, who broke a manifesto promise in scrapping HS2 from Birmingham through South Yorkshire to Leeds, as well as the planned Northern Powerhouse service from Manchester to Leeds, said the Integrated Rail Plan was the most ‘efficient way’ in the current climate.

Mr Johnson spent a short time in the communal forecourt inside Doncaster station and briefly spoke to ticket kiosk workers and greeted a couple of travellers before taking part in some internal social media videos.

He was greeted by Don Valley MP Nick Fletcher where they spoke about the railway announcements.

Mr Fletcher also suggested the PM bring his 18-month-old son Wilfred to Doncaster’s Yorkshire Wildlife Park in future, to which Mr Johnson said he would.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service nor any other local media were notified of Mr Johnson’s visit.

It’s understood that protocol for these types of visits are handled by alerting South Yorkshire Police before notifying council chief executive Damian Allen.

Doncaster’s Labour mayor Ros Jones later said she was not notified of the visit and would have welcomed the opportunity to discuss policy issues with him.

She said: “This council was completely unaware of the Prime Minister’s visit to Doncaster - we found out by a tweet after the visit had happened.

“Now of course, we are happy to host the Prime Minister as the leader of this country but it would have been good to have been made aware of this visit, and even to meet him to discuss the challenges being faced by Doncaster and how we can support the levelling up of the borough through properly funded public services.”

Mr Fletcher, on the PM’s visit, said: “We spoke about the £96 billion rail investment and the fact that these improvements will be delivered much more quickly than HS2 would have been. We also discussed the two towns funds and the levelling up fund.

“I invited the Prime Minister to the Yorkshire Wildlife Park and he said yes, he would bring Wilfred too.”

In these confusing and worrying times, local journalism is more vital than ever. Thanks to everyone who helps us ask the questions that matter by taking out a subscription or buying a paper. We stand together. Liam Hoden, editor.