YORKSHIRE politicians last night expressed their anger after the Government gave Manchester a further £250m to extend its tram system – three years after refusing Leeds funding for its proposals.
Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly said yesterday the Government would provide £244m towards the £382m total cost of extending the Manchester tram system to Oldham, Rochdale and Chorlton.
The North-West MP claimed the investment showed Ministers' comm
itment to providing a "real alternative" to cars, cutting congestion and reducing pollution.
But in November 2005 her department backtracked on previous promises to pay for a tram system in Leeds, claiming that the projected £350m costs had spiralled to about £500m – a claim vigorously denied to this day by Metro, the passenger transport group behind the project.
Yesterday's announcement was attacked by Andrew Carter, the Tory leader of Leeds Council.
He said: "While we've known that Manchester will be getting funding for a tram extension that we won't be for a while this Government re-announcement is rubbing salt in our wounds.
"Ruth Kelly is the Secretary of State for Transport for the whole country, not just Manchester. Just about everywhere north of Birmingham bar Manchester gets a raw deal on transport.
"If the Government gave Yorkshire and Humber the same per capita investment in public transport as it gives the other English regions our economy would be in a much better state than it now is."
Latest figures show that Yorkshire is given £215 per person for transport investment, the lowest of any region. The English average is £305 per head while London gets £614.
The Yorkshire Post's Road to Ruin campaign is calling for an increase in funding to prevent the region's overcrowded roads and railways from grinding to a halt.
Greg Mulholland, Liberal Democrat MP for Leeds North West, who has long campaigned for a tram system for the city, said: "While Manchester deserves a modern integrated transport system Leeds certainly does as well. But the reality is Leeds has all-too-often been the poor relation in terms of transport policy from this Government.
"This is a major kick in the teeth at a time when we're seeing the roads get even more congested, with nothing on the table that will seriously alter that."
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