PM ‘betrayal’ on North rail plans

BORIS Johnson has been accused of a “betrayal” of the North and Midlands as the Government set out its scaled-back plans for rail investment in the region.

There was anger in the Commons as Transport Secretary Grant Shapps confirmed that the eastern leg of HS2 was being scrapped while the planned Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) was being curtailed.

The Prime Minister insisted the Integrated Rail Plan (IRP) would double capacity between Manchester and Leeds and treble that between Manchester and Liverpool.

At the same time he said people could not have “everything at once”, while going ahead with the HS2 extension would mean “smashing through unspoilt countryside and villages”.

However, Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said Mr Johnson had “ripped up” promises he made that HS2 would go all the way to Leeds and that there would be a new NPR line from Manchester to Leeds.

On a visit to a Network Rail logistics hub near Selby, Mr Johnson dismissed the charges of broken promises as “total rubbish”, insisting the Government would deliver on them “eventually”.

In the Commons, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said the Government was investing £96 billion in 110 miles of new high-speed line, “slashing” journey times across the region. He said that under the original proposals HS2 would not have reached the region until the 2040s, while the revised plan would bring forward the benefits to passengers by “at least a decade”.

The Department for Transport said the improvements to the Leeds-manchester line would cut journey times from 55 minutes to 33 minutes – just four minutes slower than they would have been with NPR – while costing £18 billion less. However, Shadow Transport Secretary Jim Mcmahon said it was a “betrayal of trust” of the people of the North.