Labour's HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail vote gives Yorkshire MPs chance to show themselves - The Yorkshire Post says

This comes when Labour is today planning to force a vote in the House of Commons after the Government scaled back HS2, scrapping the crucial Leeds link, and Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR).

This newspaper believes that the two projects combined offers the most effective way to level up the country.

Labour say it will urge Conservative MPs to stand up for Northern communities, back the opposition motion, and send a strong message that Boris Johnson’s decision must be reversed.

The party also notes that successive Tory Governments committed to NPR – which will not get a stop in Bradford as previously expected, while electrification from Selby to Hull has also been scrapped – more than 60 times and it featured in three consecutive Conservative Party manifestos.

Sheffield Heeley MP and Shadow Secretary of State for Transport, Louise Haigh, said: “This great rail betrayal will hit millions of people, and leave the North in the slow lane for decades to come.

“Promises made must be kept, and todays MPs have a chance to stand up for their communities and vote for the infrastructure they stood for election on.”

The Yorkshire Post concurs.

While opposition day votes are not necessarily binding, what it would provide is a tally of which MPs are willing to put their money where their mouth is when it comes to bridging the North-South divide.

West and South Yorkshire Mayors, Tracy Brabin and Dan Jarvis, have written an open letter to all Yorkshire MPs urging them to support today’s motion and “stand up for our region”.

The Yorkshire Post calls on all such members to nail their colours to the mast – are you in or out?