Why Labour may rebadge Network North rather than return to HS2: Chris Burn

In a lengthy lunchtime press conference (almost inevitable when you stand a group of high-profile politicians all keen to get their soundbites out as mayoral elections loom in May together in front of cameras and reporters), Ms Brabin, Mr Coppard and Andy Burnham notably skirted opportunities to call for HS2 to be reinstated in the North after the Manchester leg was scrapped by Rishi Sunak in autumn.

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Mr Burnham did claim there was an “HS2-sized hole” in the Government’s levelling up plans and demanded that a planned sell-off of land which had been earmarked for the route between Birmingham and Manchester is halted.

But he went on to make clear he was not arguing to bring back HS2 but instead seeking time for alternatives to be considered. The remarks come as Mr Burnham works with Andy Street, the Conservative mayor of the West Midlands, on the possibility of using the intended HS2 route between their areas as the basis for a possible slower but cheaper new rail line.

Ms Brabin, who on stage a few hours earlier had criticised the Government’s ‘Network North’ plan to spend £36bn on smaller local transport schemes using money saved from cancelling HS2 for lacking cohesion, suggested the “moment has gone” for the high-speed line reaching the North as she pointed to the planned land sales as well as the cancellation of Government contracts associated with the scheme.

Mr Coppard subsequently talked up the importance of electrifying the Midland Main Line into Sheffield “as just as important as HS2 was to the West Coast”.

It is all a long way from the sound and fury that accompanied Mr Sunak’s announcement about the Manchester leg and later that afternoon Shadow Levelling Up Secretary Angela Rayner also declined to commit to restoring the HS2 route when questioned about it on stage by event host Clive Myrie.

It was equally interesting that Ms Brabin cited the work done by Mr Burnham and Liverpool City Region mayor Steve Rotheram with the Department for Transport to secure a potential £12bn for transport improvements between Manchester and Liverpool. She suggested a similar collaboration between herself and Mr Coppard could bear fruit on this side of the Pennines and claimed Shadow Transport Secretary (and Yorkshire MP) Louise Haigh is keen on the concept.

It appears Labour’s politicians are on something of a journey when it comes to transport improvements in the North as their party nears government. At the moment, the likely destination appears to be a rebadged version of Network North rather than a return to HS2.

Chris Burn is business and features editor of The Yorkshire Post