'It's incredibly personal': Rachel Reeves promises trams in West Yorkshire by the early 2030s

Ms Reeves said this will mean “spades in the ground by 2028” and she promised Yorkshire Post readers that there will be “trams in our communities by the early 2030s”.

In a speech at the First Bus Depot, she said: “Eleven months ago today it was the general election, and we promised in that election that we would bring change to Britain.

“And I am determined that we are going to be the Government, I am going to be the Chancellor, to deliver the change that this country desperately needs.”

Ms Reeves said even before she was first elected as the Leeds West MP in 2010 people were telling her about the need for a tram network in West Yorkshire.

After Leeds lost trams in the late 1950s, it has been the biggest city in Europe without some sort of mass transit system.

“For me, as a Leeds MP, this is incredibly personal,” Ms Reeves told The Yorkshire Post.

“I'm now in a position as Chancellor and I'm able to deliver on something that I've believed in and campaigned on for so long.”

She said it will mean “reduced journey times and more reliable journeys on a tram line, rather than being stuck on a bus or a traffic jam in your car”.

“It will also unlock more housing investment, it will connect people with jobs and it will mean young people can take up places at college and university a little bit further from home,” she added.

While Ms Brabin said it was “a fantastic day for West Yorkshire and a great day for the North”.

“This has got to be the biggest growth project because of the ambition and also the connectivity between Leeds and Bradford,” she claimed.

The West Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority, which Ms Brabin leads, has just finished consulting on options for two main routes - from Leeds city centre to the south and also to Bradford.

The most popular route in the first section would run between St James’s Hospital and the city centre, via the First Direct Arena, Leeds Beckett University and Millennium Square.

This would then go past Leeds station and head south over Victoria Bridge, running via Holbeck, Elland Road Stadium and Beeston Ring Road before finishing at the White Rose Centre.

A similar level of support was given to all three routes between Bradford and Leeds, which go via Armley, Laisterdyke and Wortley.

These were drawn up combining areas where a tram could practically be delivered, alongside those places which have the highest need for greater public transport.

“This is our spine and then there will be branches coming off it to connect to other communities across West Yorkshire,” Ms Brabin told The Yorkshire Post.

This could include places like Wakefield, Dewsbury, Halifax, as well as connecting to the proposed rail link to the airport.

The WYMCA will reveal the two proposed routes later in the year for more public consultation.

“This is a huge infrastructure project, I would like to go faster but we have to go through the process,” Ms Brabin added.

“This is not all of the funding, we will continue to need funding because this is just the beginning.”