The Government’s controversial rail plans have come under fresh fire after officials said they would provide “less for the North, and later”.
Politicians from around the North East, North West, and Yorkshire and Humber have lined up to attack the Government plans since they were announced by Transport Secretary Grant Shapps last week and have since been defended by Prime Minister as ‘better’ than what Northern leaders had asked for.
Speaking at a meeting of the Transport for the North group, Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham said that the Government’s rail was plan was a “bombshell” while his West Yorkshire counterpart Tracy Brabin said the plans were “a betrayal of levelling up for West Yorkshire”.
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Liverpool city region mayor Steve Rotheram, Hull City Council leader Daren Hale, North of Tyne mayor Jamie Driscoll and North East Transport Authority chair Martin Gannon also criticised the plans.
They were speaking after Tim Foster, interim strategy and programme director at Transport for the North, said the Government’s rail plan risked opening up new divisions in the country by doing nothing to close the north-south divide, and also disadvantaging eastern parts of the North compared to western areas.
He added: “While we might have anticipated a less than ambitious rail plan, I don’t think we quite anticipated an incomplete and uncertain one. It does appear that there are concerns about reliability and capacity.”
And Tim Wood, Northern Powerhouse Rail director, said that despite Government justifications that its plan would bring improvements earlier, Transport for the North’s analysis of the scheme showed that many schemes would not actually be delivered until the mid-2040s.
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“On Northern Powerhouse Rail, the Integrated Rail Plan is proposing less for the North, and later,” he said.
Members of Transport for the North, who include business leaders as well as regional mayors, agreed they should go back to the Government and restate their case for the Northern Powerhouse Rail plans, which they said are necessary to improve the economy in the region.
After the meeting in Leeds, Metro mayors from across the North put forward a united front to oppose the Integrated Rail Plan announced by the Government last week.
In the House of Commons later, Transport Minister Andrew Stephenson defended the Integrated Rail Plan.
He said: “Labour want to stick to the outdated plans that would give the East Midlands and the North nothing for 10 years. Our plan delivers the same, similar or better journey times almost everywhere.
“In government Labour failed to upgrade our railways. Our infrastructure tumbled down the world rankings. On top of that the leader of the Opposition can’t even decide whether he supports HS2 or not. Labour don’t have a plan to deliver for the Midlands and the North, we do."