Exclusive: Transport blueprint on track if Tories triumph

A commission set up last year to steer the Conservatives on how to tackle bottlenecks, congestion and poor transport links will be invited to advise David Cameron if he becomes Prime Minister.

The Tories promised to ensure Yorkshire gets a fair deal on spending despite preparing voters for budget cuts by warning there will be "tough decisions" ahead.

But Labour questioned the Tories' commitment to the region's transport network because voters will go to the polls still in the dark over what the commission will recommend.

Labour's Transport Secretary, Andrew Adonis, said: "It's incredible that the Tories have now dumped their transport report until after the next election. It shows what we have always said that their commission was nothing more than a press release."

Transport remains a key concern for commuters and businesses amid frustration that funding for projects in Yorkshire has lagged behind other parts of the country, although Labour embarked on a pre-election spending spree on schemes such as trolleybuses in Leeds and improvements to the A63 in Hull.

n All three party leaders are visiting key battlegrounds in Yorkshire in a frantic final round of electioneering. Gordon Brown last night addressed staff at Sheffield Forgemasters, which in March won key funding for work to supply the nuclear industry.