Two flaws in Grant Shapps defence of £96bn Integrated Rail Plan

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps writes for The Yorkshire Post today.

placeholder image — Transport Secretary Grant Shapps writes for The Yorkshire Post today.

MOST NEWSPAPER columns submitted by Whitehall departments fall by the wayside because the content is bland, templated – or mistake Yorkshire for the North East.

This is significant in the context of today’s piece by Grant Shapps on the £96bn Integrated Rail Plan – it is passionate, punchy and also very political.

Leeds train misery is evidence that HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail downgrades as short-sighted as Beeching cuts – Tom Richmond

History will judge if the London Government’s decision to break its promises to the region and downgrade both HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail is the correct call – and the Transport Secretary will have left office long before then.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps has written in defence of the Integrated Rail Plan.

Government doesn’t know how derided Integrated Rail Plan ‘will work on the ground’, Transport minister admits

Yet, while readers of The Yorkshire Post will have their own views on the merits of the arguments, two of his assertions should not pass unchallenged.

This Integrated Rail Plan will get North back on track and prove its critics wrong over high-speed rail – Grant Shapps

First, Mr Shapps writes that the IRP includes “a new mass transit system for West Yorkshire”. It does not. It confirms that there’s now £200m available for a feasibility study.

Integrated Rail Plan will level up North as Grant Shapps blasts critics of decision to downgrade high-speed rail in Yorkshire

Yet the Minister’s own policy document notes that “the cost for the initial network, over 10 years, is expected to exceed £2bn”.

Second, the Minister justifies the decision not to build Northern Powerhouse Rail through Bradford by highlighting communities like Huddersfield, Dewsbury, Wakefield and Doncaster that will benefit as a result.

He is, of course, entitled to his view, but Baroness Vere, one of his own junior ministers, did confirm to the House of Lords last week that the DfT does not know how many extra trains will be able to run on a network already operating at full capacity in Leeds.

Moving forward, this newspaper, for one, looks forward to Mr Shapps being candid on this oversight if he expects commuters here to still trust him.

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