Northern leaders say 'the fight will go on' after Government downgrades rail plans

They are calling on the Government to allow a free vote on its controversial Integrated Rail Plan (IRP), which outlined £96bn of investment yesterday, and allow MPs to decide whether the proposals should be taken forward without being influenced by party leaders.

A joint letter to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, signed by seven mayors and 18 council leaders, states the “pared-back plan will not unlock the full potential of the North of England”.

It adds: “These decisions go beyond party politics and indeed our generation. They are critical to the future of the North for the next 100 years and more.

“Given this, we believe elected representatives in all parts of the country should have an opportunity to consider whether your proposals represent a fair deal for their constituents before they are finalised.”

After previously promising to build HS2 in full, the Government confirmed yesterday the eastern leg of the high-speed rail line will only run to East Midlands Parkway and trains will then continue on an existing line to Sheffield but not reach Leeds.

The Government has also promised £17.2bn for a scaled-back version of Northern Powerhouse Rail, with a 40-mile high-speed line between Warrington, Manchester and Marsden in Yorkshire.

It opted to upgrade and electrify the existing Transpennine Main Line as part of a £5.4bn project, instead of building a new line between Leeds and Liverpool, and cut Bradford from the route.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the plans “go above and beyond the initial ambitions of HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail” and will deliver benefits for people across the North.

But South Yorkshire Mayor Dan Jarivis said the North has been “sold short” and the Government’s levelling up agenda is now “in tatters”.

He said: “It should have been a landmark moment for the North. The moment the Government finally showed the courage to fix one of the greatest injustices in our country – fixing the generational and deep inequality between our regions and the chronic under-investment in our people and our economy.

“Instead, I think we’ve seen a package of broken promises, re-announcements and spin. Be very clear, today’s announcement is bad news for passengers, bad news for businesses, and it is bad news for the North. “

West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin described the announcement as a “betrayal of the North”.

“I feel it’s a betrayal of the Government’s levelling up promise. It doesn’t deliver HS2 in full to Leeds and it doesn’t deliver a high-speed line across the Pennines with a crucial city stop in Bradford,” she said.

“It does not support our ambition as northern leaders for a stronger, fairer and better connected North for all.”

Ms Brabin added: “Whitehall seems not to listen to Northern voices. HS2 will now stop short of Yorkshire and the high-speed Northern Powerhouse Rail line will stop at the border.”

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham said his region will benefit significantly from the IRP, as it will be served by HS2 and NPR lines, but the plan “comes up short”.

He said: “This is about the future of the North of England for the next 100 or 200 years. That is the significance of the decisions that are being announced today.

“We are not prepared to consign our grandchildren, great grandchildren and beyond to being second best when it comes to transport in this country.

“We have got to fight for better for them and we have to do it together, we have to stand together as one.

“We need the plan that we were promised, a plan that would unlock the northern economy.

“The fight will go on. We are calling for that free vote. And we’re asking all Northern MPs to put party politics aside and consider what is best for your constituents in generations to come.”

The IRP states that building the NPR line that was suggested by Transport for the North would cost an extra £18bn, open in 2043 and shave just four minutes off the journey between Manchester and Leeds.

But it also states under the new plans, some NPR trains will begin running this decade, and journeys between Manchester and Leeds will be 22 minutes faster.

According to the 162-page plan, the upgrades will cut journey times from Leeds to Liverpool to 73 minutes (currently 106) and Leeds to Bradford to 12 minutes (currently 20).

Mr Shapps told MPs in Parliament yesterday: “I’ve heard some people say that we’re just going about electrifying the Transpennine route – this is wrong.

“What we’re actually doing is investing £23bn to deliver Northern Powerhouse Rail and the Transpennine route upgrade, unlocking east-west travel across the North of England.

“So, in total, this package is 110 miles of new high-speed line, all of it in the Midlands and the North.

“It’s 180 miles of newly-electrified line, all of it in the Midlands and the North.”

Mr Shapps added: “We’ll upgrade the East Coast Mainline with a package of investment on track improvements and digital signalling, bringing down journey times between London, Leeds, Darlington, Newcastle and Edinburgh – bringing benefits to the North-East much, much sooner than under the previous plans.”