Efforts to rescue HS2 are being supported by inviting technical specialists to produce innovative ideas, and applications have opened today. HS2 Ltd chief executive Mark Wild is in charge of a comprehensive review of the struggling project, which has been cut back more than once and now consists only of a section between London and Birmingham, although politicians in the north are continuing to press for some form of link to Crewe and Manchester.

Two young men aged 19 and 18 have been charged in connection with the cyber attack on Transport for London systems just over a year ago, which TfL said had caused damage and disruption over three months costing 39 million pounds. The National Cyber Security Centre and the National Crime Agency were called in at the start of September last year, and data concerning some 5,000 passengers was feared to have been compromised.