Reform’s railway calculation based on misconception
Another day, another announcement from Reform UK, informing the British public about something else it will not do should the electorate trust this latest reincarnation of Nigel Farage’s right-wing push for power with its votes.
This time it is Northern Powerhouse Rail that Reform has in its cross-hairs, only, a key detail at the spearhead of this latest Reform UK press release reveals a fundamental misunderstanding that elicits concern whilst inviting derision.
In its attempt to torpedo NPR, Reform’s gotcha line is this: “Policy Exchange shows that the journey on the new route from Liverpool to Manchester will actually take longer than on the existing line.”
For anyone who has taken the time to understand HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail, though quite why this must be repeated is dumbfounding, the compelling case made is not about speed but about capacity. Getting long, fast trains onto dedicated railway, shorn of the slower local services, means more fast trains can run per hour. Leaving those local services to access the legacy lines, if you will, without having to get out of the way of an Azuma punching through the countryside at 120mph, means an improved local service, too.
Under the previous Conservative administration, Yorkshire was promised HS2 and that promise was reneged upon. Now we know that any Reform Government would fail to invest in a new-and-improved east-west railway, one that would revolutionise northern economies, turbo-charging opportunity.
Early research suggested that NPR would bring access for 10m people – up from 2.2m – to the biggest four cities in the north of England, widening labour markets and reducing brain drain. This is a glaring mis-step by Reform, which has been saying all of the right things in its bid to appeal to those yearning for a new political home.