Disingenuous to blame the current state of the railway network on strikes - The Yorkshire Post says

With the Conservative Party conference convening on Sunday in Manchester, Rishi Sunak said he would “probably be driving”.

The PM then went on to say that he “would be catching the train” on Saturday if it was not for the strikes.

The reality is that with or without strike disruption, travelling by train in the North has become a lottery. The railway network has been plagued by delays and cancellations for far too long.

There is no magic bullet to fixing the disruption but a good place to start would be the PM being honest about the reasons why he would have to drive to the conference.

Then again for a PM who has become accustomed to flying across the country it will be a long journey driving to Manchester. Mr Sunak justifies flying so that he can “squeeze more” into his day. Maybe people in the North could also do the same if there was more capacity and faster trains on the railways.

This is all because the Government doesn’t want to admit that it is selling the North of England short when it comes to investing in much needed transport infrastructure.

As the PM prepares to pull the plug on the Manchester leg of HS2, it would not be expedient of him to concede that once again the North is about to miss out. This isn’t just about the thinking within Conservative leadership but also wider Westminster. Would politicians put up with the antiquated public transport the North is currently lumbered with?