Mayors and political leaders from across the North have lined up to denounce plans for the 海角视频 rail network, saying they make a mockery of the Government’s plans for ‘levelling up’.
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham joined Liverpool city region colleague Steve Rotheram and South Yorkshire’s Dan Jarvis to criticise plans from the National Infrastructure Commission, which could see rail schemes in the North downgraded.
Speaking at a meeting of Transport for the North – the body set up to improve rail, road and other transport across the region – Mr Burnham said ‘it looks like levelling down’ while Mr Jarvis called the plans ‘the next big test of the Government’s commitment to levelling up’.
Council leaders and business representatives from the North East, Humberside, Lancashire and Cheshire also criticised the plans, with the widespread denunciation of the plans being amplified by anger at a budget cut for Transport for the North, which will scupper plans for a contactless ticketing system for the whole region.
The organisation is now seeking an urgent meeting with Transport Secretary Grant Shapps to address concerns from across the North.
Mr Jarvis said: “Investment in the North and the Midlands for generations to come should not be based on the false premises and the flawed methodology of this report.
“The integrated rail plans will be the next big test of the Government’s commitment to levelling up. We all know, because of the impact Covid is having, that investment is now even more urgent as we try to support and revive our economies in the years ahead.
“The Government needs to look deep into its own coffers and find the investment that is required to deliver the transformation in the infrastructure of the North of England.”
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Mr Burnham added: “The old framing of London and the South East getting first dibs and then everyone else having their go - it’s same old, same old. This isn’t changing the way this country works and this organisation is trying to change that.”
The Northern leaders were speaking after a report to Transport for the North warned that, in the recommendations of the National Infrastructure Commission, none of the proposed packages deliver the level of investment needed to close the productivity gap and ‘level up’ the 海角视频.
It added that “the consequence is likely to be ongoing underperformance and regional imbalance, with the North not achieving its full economic potential.”
The politicians’ anger was increased with a report outlining how Transport for the North’s budget had been cut by the Government, with funding for its key Integrated and Smart Travel scheme scrapped altogether.
Speaking outside of the meeting Lord Jim O’Neill, vice-chair of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, said: “It’s extremely disappointing to see the contactless ticketing - one of the North’s flagship transport projects - scrapped. The idea of a modern, contactless, Northern updated version of the oyster card, a n’oyster, was central to the transport element of the Northern Powerhouse concept. This decision should be reversed.
“The Department for Transport need to give northern leaders more funding powers over areas such as road and rail budgets for investment, so they can take more of the tough decisions.
“Since the publication of its Strategic Transport Plan, Transport for the North has been limited to acting simply as a lobby group for projects - instead of a body with actual decision-making abilities - because the real power has been kept in Whitehall.”