£100bn call to end North’s transport misery

Politicans unite in plea for road and rail revolution

A CROSS-PARTY group of politicians, including senior Tory party grandees, have today taken the unprecedented step of coming together to urge the Chancellor Philip Hammond to commit £100 billion to transform the North’s rail and road network to prevent future generations from enduring the misery faced by today’s commuters.

Lord Heseltine, former transport minister Robert Goodwill and ex-whip Sir Greg Knight, are part of a group of more than 80 MPs and peers to press for extra investment for the North’s infrastructure to bring it in line with the rest of the country and help bolster the national economy.

In a letter to the Chancellor, seen by The Yorkshire Post, the politicians urge him to use the forthcoming Budget to commit £24 billion of funding for the high-speed Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) scheme to link the east and west of the country, and to bring forward the target completion date to coincide with the planned arrival of the HS2 line to Leeds and Manchester in 2032.

The MPs also call for a commitment to increase funding for major road and rail projects in the region to £100 billion by 2050.

Tory MP Kevin Hollinrake, the co-chair of the Northern Powerhouse all-party parliamentary group and author of the letter, said the extra investment could see the next generation enjoy opportunities across the region which are “currently beyond young people today”.

Critics have highlighted the amount spent on transport in the South East compared with the North and the letter urged the Chancellor to allocate funding for NPR so it can proceed at the same time as the Crossrail 2 scheme in London.

The letter is published on the same day that embattled Transport Secretary Chris Grayling is due to visit the region following weeks of heavy criticism for his handling of the rail timeta- ble fiasco which has blighted the North and caused an estimated £38m loss to the UK’s economy.

Mr Hollinrake, Conservative MP for Thirsk and Malton, said: “We are now at a critical point – Northern Powerhouse Rail has the potential not simply to improve rail travel for commuters and families but to deliver economic growth right across the North, not simply in the core cities.

“Bringing forward the delivery date of NPR to the same time as HS2 arrives in the North could see the coming generation enjoy further education and job opportunities currently beyond young people today, and stimulate significant growth for the whole of the UK.”

Labour former minister Caroline Flint, a co-chair of the allparty parliamentary group, said: “It is simply not good enough and needs urgent action to address the North’s outdated transport network.

“Investing up to £100 billion in improving roads and rail is a must-have for the people of the North.”

THERESA MAY began the week by conceding that the North’s rail services were still not good enough. She can end it by promising to look favourably at the Budget submission being made on behalf of the whole region by the Northern Powerhouse Partnership.

It’s two key demands should – by now – be familiar to the Prime Minister. First, a commitment to build Northern Powerhouse Rail, a new high-speed line linking cities on both sides of the Pennines by 2032 when HS2 is due to arrive in Leeds and Manchester.

Second, a promise that Ministers will make available £100bn by 2050 to fund all those strategic road and rail projects left in abeyance because successive governments prioritised spending in London and the South East.

However the case put forward by the NPP, headed by George Osborne, the former Chancellor, is even more compelling because it is backed by more than 80 MPs and peers from all parties who are committed to narrowing the NorthSouth divide. That names like Lord Michael Heseltine, a former Deputy Prime Minister and longstanding advocate of the North’s regeneration, have endorsed the submission gives the report added credence at a time when this region is still counting the financial and human cost of this year’s disruption on the railways.

And, by giving Transport for the North the powers and resources that it needs to fulfil its remit, there should be a significant economic return on the Government’s investment.

As former Treasury minister Lord Jim O’Neill, a vice-chairman of the NPP, says: “Affordable and quick trains connecting all key parts of the Northern Powerhouse, are vital to delivering on the goal of raising productivity both across the North, and with it, the country as a whole.”

An early Government response will, in a coincidence of timing, come today when Chris Grayling, the under-fire Transport Secretary, visits Leeds Bradford Airport.

After using his last visit to Yorkshire to accuse his many critics here of talking down the North, he can begin by accepting that this is, in fact, a genuine crossparty call to transform the North and put commuters in the driving seat. It would be a start.