Northern leaders' crunch summit to thrash out new rail plans after HS2 fiasco
Workers’ leaders and Northern business chiefs today call for an urgent boost to rail links across the region, warning: “We cannot afford any more delay.”
The Trades Union Congress and Northern Powerhouse Partnership issued an unprecedented joint statement demanding improvements to vital connections are accelerated. Their intervention, to mark a major summit of Northern Mayors, transport industry bosses and other political figures in Manchester, comes just six weeks after Rishi Sunak scrapped plans for the HS2 railway to run to Manchester.
Instead, he outlined plans for Network North - which included money to upgrade roads in southern England. The Prime Minister’s blueprint said a third of the cash promised by Network North would be earmarked for a better connection between Liverpool and Manchester. "This would allow the delivery of Northern Powerhouse Rail as previously planned, including high speed lines," it said, adding: "We will work with local leaders to agree whether they wish to suggest other ways to achieve the objectives."
Today, local leaders will thrash out the next steps they want taken to boost regional transport infrastructure, which the TUC and NPP think tank describe as “the backbone of a productive, prosperous economy”. They say: “The plan to link up the great cities of the North through transport connectivity is vital for connecting jobs and businesses to working people.
“This is at the heart of the Northern Powerhouse economic mission. We cannot afford any more delay. We must seize this moment to send a message to investors and business around the world that the North of England remains an unrivalled opportunity for strong, sustainable growth delivering high-skilled, well-paid, unionised jobs.”
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They demand “immediate progress on improvements between York and Newcastle, electrification between Selby and Hull and a new Bradford station”. They add: “New lines will be built in time but in the first instance we need to deliver these immediate upgrades.” They also demand answers on the “right solution for improving connectivity between the Midlands and the North, including between Birmingham and Manchester, and Leeds and Newcastle”.
Lashing out at years of chaos and uncertainty which have hampered investment, they say “maintaining certainty in the face of political and economic instability as well as avoiding significant changes to agreed routes would help us deliver projects on time and to budget”.
The TUC and NPP call for a “return to the ambition of our predecessors - the Victorians who built infrastructure like the world’s first rail network which we continue to benefit from more than a century later”. They add: “We owe it to future generations to get this right, to build a more productive future which delivers more opportunities and more fulfilling lives for Northerners than they can expect today.”
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