But now Stafford station will see at least 4 HS2 trains per hour instead of 1 as part of the fallback plan. Stafford to London journey times will be only 54 minutes saving 21 minutes on current times it's a win-win for Stafford surely?
It does, at first glance, look like it's mostly win-win for Stafford, but there are new congestion issues that the cancellation of HS2 phase 2 creates. I think the main pinch points are Colwich junction and Shugborough tunnel; also Stafford station may need some improvements as well.
One other point, once HS2 commences, your journey time of 54 minutes will be for Stafford to Old Oak Common for the foreseeable future. Changing onto an Elizabeth Line service is likely to add in excess of 20 minutes into central London to you journey, negating any time saving benefits of HS2's higher speeds.
Whichever government is in charge, after the next election, needs to quickly restart the extension works to Euston if FS2 is to have any chance of being a success. Connecting HS2 to HS1 should also be a priority, as this could offer real competition to short haul flights such as Liverpool/Manchester/Birmingham to Paris/Brussels/Amsterdam etc.