The following Statement was made in the House of Commons on Wednesday 14 January.
“With permission, I would like to make a Statement on the Government’s plans for Northern Powerhouse Rail. I realise that I am not the first Minister to talk about transforming infrastructure in the north of England, and I get why people there are sick to the back teeth of Westminster politicians promising the earth and delivering absolutely nothing because parties, whether that means the Tories or Reform, lack ambition and are incapable of doing, or are unwilling to do, the hard yards of delivery. That ends today.
It has been over a decade since the then Conservative Chancellor pledged a transport system fit for a northern powerhouse, and what came of it? We had High Speed 2 to Manchester and Leeds—both promised, both axed; rail services have let down commuters; and we have a railway still reliant on diesel trains and two-track Victorian infrastructure. We had levelling up, the integrated rail plan and Network North—just empty slogans, and emptier pockets to pay for them.
That gulf between rhetoric and reality has consequences. An unbalanced economy does not just affect growth; it strikes at the heart of the fairer country that we want to be. Political choices made over decades mean that a 40-mile commute to Manchester is a world away from a similar journey into London. Take Liverpool, which has only two fast trains an hour to Manchester, and a direct rail journey from Liverpool to Manchester Airport takes an hour and 25 minutes when it is only 28 miles away; or Leeds, which is still the largest city in western Europe without mass transit and where only a third of the population can reach the city centre in 30 minutes.
We are finally consigning this sorry political legacy to the bonfire of history. No previous Government have acted as swiftly and decisively to back northern leaders. We have made the largest ever investment in local transport. We have given the go-ahead to road and rail projects across the north, and we are allocating billions of pounds in pothole funding to local leaders across this Parliament. Today, Mr Speaker, we are going further. After years of underinvestment in the north’s rail network, I am proud to announce that we will deliver Northern Powerhouse Rail.
This is a generational commitment, building on the ongoing trans-Pennine route upgrade. We will invest up to a further £45 billion to create a ‘turn up and go’ railway along the northern growth corridor of Liverpool, Manchester, Bradford, Leeds and Sheffield, as well as York. There will be regular services onward to Newcastle and Hull, and to Chester for connections to north Wales.
Make no mistake: NPR will transform how people travel. We will end the hour-long waits if people miss their train. We will attract more people to a railway that will be faster, more accessible and more frequent than ever before. For northerners who have long complained about being treated as second-class citizens, my message is simple: those days are over.
This is an ambitious long-term programme, but it is not HS2 reheated. I stood at the Dispatch Box last year and said that we would learn the lessons of that infrastructure project, and I meant it. Unlike the previous Government’s Network North plan, which was announced without so much as a phone call to the mayors, we have been working directly with them on developing the proposals. I am proud to announce that every single one of those mayors is backing the plan today.
I am clear that NPR will not be a central government vanity project. It will be rooted in northern communities, and designed, developed and delivered from the bottom up. We will also take the time to get this right. That starts with agreeing mature, stable designs, as well as consents, all before construction. Finally, unlike HS2, this is not about the fastest line at any cost. Northern Powerhouse Rail will be the shoulders of this nation’s rail network, improving services across the north and beyond.
Let me now turn to delivery. We are making £1.1 billion available to develop NPR over the next four years. This will proceed in three phases, sequenced so that passengers experience a better railway as soon as possible. The first phase will prioritise electrification and upgrades east of the Pennines for delivery in the 2030s. That covers the Leeds-Bradford, Sheffield-Leeds and Leeds-York corridors, including the stations. Alongside NPR, we will develop the business case for the Leamside line, as part of our broader plans for the north. I pay tribute to my honourable friend the Member for Washington and Gateshead South (Mrs Hodgson), who has been campaigning on this for over 20 years.
Phase 1’s benefits will be clear. It means pressing forward with plans for a new station in Bradford, with funding secured to take it forward subject to business case, and it means working with local leaders on a redesigned York station master plan. I would like to recognise the work carried out by Lord Blunkett in his Yorkshire plan for rail. It was his vision, endorsed by the white rose mayors, that informed our plan for phase 1, and I am proud that Lord Blunkett is backing our plans today.
Work also starts now for the second phase, west of the Pennines, with major construction planned for the 2030s. It includes a new route, and a predominantly new line, between Liverpool and Manchester. This will run via new stations, improving access to Manchester Airport from across the north and north Wales, and to Warrington Bank Quay, with plans to deliver thousands of new homes. I have today instructed my officials to immediately resume work on the adapted hybrid Bill, so that we can reach planning consent for the parts of the route in Manchester. These plans align with the prospectus of the Liverpool-Manchester Railway Board, and I thank all the board’s members, including the chair, former Rail Minister Huw Merriman, who is also backing our plans today.
The third phase, which takes us to the 2040s, will improve connectivity across the Pennines, over and above the trans-Pennine route upgrade currently under way. I see Bradford to Manchester, Leeds to Manchester, and Sheffield to Manchester as key routes that we will upgrade.
If we are to secure Britain’s long-term growth, we must also recognise that future capacity and connectivity are needed along other major routes, such as the west coast main line, and ensure that this is reflected in our decision-making now. I can therefore confirm this Government’s long-term aim to see a full new north-south line to Birmingham from Manchester. That is one of the reasons why we have chosen the Liverpool to Manchester route, as put forward by local mayors, because it is the only route that properly preserves our ability ultimately to build a new line south to address longer-term congestion and crowding challenges on the west coast main line.
Again, this plan will not be a revival of HS2, and no decisions have been taken on the specification or timetable. In the meantime, we will retain land between the West Midlands and Crewe that the Government have already purchased. This will be an incremental programme of change, and delivery will be taken forward after NPR has been built. Nevertheless, I believe that laying out our strategy now is sensible, responsible and in the long-term interests of the country.
Today we are announcing a second rail revolution in the very region that gave us the first. The north powered Britain’s past, and it can lead this country’s future. This plan is a down payment on the north’s potential and part of a broader growth drive to lift the region’s productivity, boost living standards and add tens of billions to the UK economy. At the heart of this lies connectivity, because only by strengthening the links between our northern cities and bringing their pools of talent closer together can the region begin to rival the other major growth corridors in Europe.
Too many northerners still face the choice of staying at home and putting aspiration on hold or moving away in search of a better future. I say no more unfair choices and no more missed opportunities. Today we start delivering Northern Powerhouse Rail, and I commend this Statement to the House”.