09 March 2023 , 21:59
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The decision to delay building key stretches of the HS2 railway is another Tory betrayal of Northern voters.
In the last year ministers have axed the Leeds leg of the line and broken their promise of a Northern Powerhouse Rail linking cities between Liverpool and Newcastle.
While Londoners enjoy the new £18billion Elizabeth Line, passengers in the North are lumbered with aged rolling stock, reduced services and shoddy performance.
It is entirely in keeping with this Government’s attitude towards the North that it has decided to freeze work on lines from Birmingham to Crewe and beyond.
The project’s spiralling budget has long been a cause for concern and there is an argument the money would have been better spent improving existing transport links.
Teachers, civil servants and train drivers walk out in biggest strike in decade
But to abandon key stretches now is not just damaging for the economy and jobs, it makes a mockery of Tory levelling-up pledges.
Red Wall voters everywhere will rightly feel outraged at the Tories’ cruel lies and betrayal.
Value our NHS
When Labour left office the health service was securely funded with record levels of patient satisfaction.
The Tories could have nurtured this precious legacy. Instead they wrecked it.
On almost every measure the health service is failing. Overall waiting lists in England are at a record level of 7.21 million, cardiac waiting times are 58% higher than before the pandemic and ambulance response times remain woeful.
No wonder a poll reveals a quarter of ambulance staff and 17% of all NHS workers plan to quit. It underlines why they all must be awarded a pay rise.
If we value the NHS then we need to start valuing those who work in it.
Ruff weather
Crufts got off to an icy start yesterday.
Hot dogs were few and far between in sub-zero Birmingham but at least the huskies enjoyed our barking mad spring climate.