Integrated Rail Plan: Andy Burnham hits back at 'Don't bite the hand that feeds you' advice from Tory MP

The plan was first published in November and included the HS2 Eastern leg to Leeds being curtailed so it will not reach Yorkshire, while hopes of a new high-speed line between Leeds and Manchester via Bradford were downgraded for a cheaper option between Warrington and Marsden on the edge of Yorkshire.

Speaking to MPs on the Transport Select Committee, Mr Burnham said: “These are once-in-200-years decisions for the country and particularly for the North of England.

“If we get second-best then the North of England will have second-best for 200 years or more.

“The importance of this can’t be overstated.”

Mr Burnham said a recently published technical annexe for the IRP had revealed that the levelling up impact of building the full routes had not been taken into account.

“This is a very traditional railway assessment of a scheme that has led to what we have,” he said.

“They have not by their own admission carried out a levelling up impact.”

Tory MP Karl McCartney subsequently accused Mr Burnham of having different approaches to the issue in public and private.

The Lincoln MP said: “Do you understand the meaning of the phrase ‘do not bite the hand that feeds you’?”

Mr Burnham said he did and Mr McCartney then asked: “Do you think that your strategy that might be slightly schizophrenic in private saying, ‘Please sir can I have some more’ like Oliver, then coming out in public and trying to beat the Government up like the Incredible Hulk’.

“Do you think that’s delivering for you and the people of Manchester?”

Mr Burnham said: “You are kind of saying ‘we should just get what we’re given’.

“How about ‘get what we were promised’? Because it’s actually your government that promised all of this.”

Manchester does better than other parts of North from IRP

Andy Burnham accepted that Greater Manchester does “proportionately better” out of the plan than some areas, as the HS2 extension from Crewe to Manchester is going ahead.

But he insisted that “better is not what we should settle” for.

“We don’t get the connectivity to Bradford – that’s a critical neighbour city for us – nor the full benefits of the capacity and connectivity to Leeds that we’ve been promised.”

Read more:

'Absolutely essential' HS2 services come to Leeds, says Patrick McLoughlin...

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