The Secretary of State for Transport (Grant Shapps) With
permission, Mr Speaker, I would like to make a statement about the
future of the railway. Today I am proud to announce our integrated
rail plan. It is a £96 billion programme that will transform rail
services in the north and the midlands—the largest single rail
investment ever made by a UK Government, and an investment that,
rather than being felt decades into the future, will arrive much,
much sooner. This...Request free trial
The Secretary of State for Transport ()
With permission, Mr Speaker, I would like to make a statement
about the future of the railway.
Today I am proud to announce our integrated rail plan. It is a
£96 billion programme that will transform rail services in the
north and the midlands—the largest single rail investment ever
made by a UK Government, and an investment that, rather than
being felt decades into the future, will arrive much, much
sooner. This unprecedented commitment to build a world-class
railway that delivers for passengers and freight, for towns and
cities, and for communities and businesses, will benefit eight of
the 10 busiest rail corridors across the north and the midlands,
providing faster journeys, increased capacity and more frequent
services up to 10 years sooner than previously planned.
When I became Transport Secretary in 2019, the HS2 project was
already about 10 years old. I was concerned that costs were
rising and newer projects such as the midlands rail hub and
Northern Powerhouse Rail had not been fully factored into the
plans. Under the original scheme, the HS2 track would not have
reached the east midlands and the north until the early 2040s.
Clearly, a rethink was needed to ensure that the project would
deliver as soon as possible for the regions that it served, and
that is how the integrated rail plan was born—through a desire to
deliver sooner.
The Prime Minister and I asked Douglas Oakervee to lead the work
and make recommendations on the best way forward. One of his key
criticisms was that HS2 was designed in isolation from the rest
of the transport network. The original plans gave us high-speed
lines to the east midlands, but did not serve any of the three
biggest east midlands cities. For example, if someone wanted to
get to Nottingham or Derby, they would still have had to go to a
parkway station, and change on to a local tram or train. Oakervee
made a clear and convincing case for considering HS2 as part of
an integrated rail plan, working alongside local, regional and
national services, not just those travelling between our biggest
cities. We accepted those recommendations and asked the National
Infrastructure Commission to develop options.
The commission came back with two key suggestions: first, that we
adopt a flexible approach, initially setting out a core
integrated rail network, but that we remain open to future
additions as long as expectations on costs and timing are met;
and secondly, that strengthening regional rail links would be
most economically beneficial for the north and
midlands—connecting towns with the main railway networks, and
bringing hope and opportunity to communities that have felt left
behind for too long—and that we should bring these benefits to
passengers and local economies as soon as possible. Those are the
guiding principles behind the integrated rail plan that I am
announcing today. It is an ambitious and unparalleled programme
that not only overhauls intercity links across the north and
midlands, but speeds up the benefits for local areas and serves
the destinations that people most want to reach.
This new blueprint delivers three high-speed lines: first, Crewe
to Manchester; secondly, Birmingham to the east midlands, with
HS2 trains continuing to central Nottingham, central Derby,
Chesterfield and Sheffield on an upgraded main line; and thirdly,
a brand new high-speed line from Warrington to Manchester and the
western border of Yorkshire, slashing journey times across the
north. [Laughter.] Well, I know that Opposition Members will want
to hear the detail of those journey times and also to explain why
their constituents would wish to wait decades more to deliver a
journey almost no faster at all than under these plans.
I have heard some people say that we are just going about
electrifying the TransPennine route. That is wrong. We are
actually investing £23 billion to deliver Northern Powerhouse
Rail and the TransPennine route upgrade, unlocking east-west
travel across the north of England. In total, this package is 110
miles of new high-speed line, all of it in the midlands and the
north. It is 180 miles of newly electrified line, all of it in
the midlands and the north. I remind the hon. Member for Oldham
West and Royton () of Labour’s 63 miles of
electrified line in 13 years. We will upgrade the east coast main
line with a package of investment on track improvements and
digital signalling, bringing down journey times between London,
Leeds, Darlington, Newcastle and Edinburgh, and bringing benefits
to the north-east much, much sooner than under the previous
plans. This adds capacity and speeds up services over more than
400 miles of line, the vast majority of it in the midlands and
the north. We will study how best to take HS2 trains to Leeds as
well. We will start work on a new West Yorkshire mass transit
system, righting the wrong of that major city not having a mass
transit system, probably the largest in Europe not to have one.
We commit today to supporting West Yorkshire Combined Authority
over the long term to ensure that this time it actually gets
done.
In short, we are about to embark on the biggest single act of
levelling up of any Government in history. [Interruption.] Listen
to the numbers. It is five times more than what was spent on
Crossrail and 10 times more than what was spent on delivering the
Olympics, but Opposition Members still think it is a small
package. It will achieve the same, similar or faster journey
times to London and on the core Northern Powerhouse Rail network
than the original proposals, and will bring the benefits years
earlier, as well as doubling, or in some cases tripling, the
capacity.
Let me set out a few of these investments. Rail journeys between
Birmingham and Nottingham will be cut from an hour and a quarter
to 26 minutes, city centre to city centre. Journeys between York
and Manchester will be down to 55 minutes, from 83 minutes today.
Commuters will be able to get from Bradford to Leeds in just 12
minutes, almost half the time it takes today. There will be
earlier benefits for places such as Sheffield and Chesterfield.
Trips from Newcastle to Birmingham will be slashed by almost 30
minutes, and passengers in Durham and Darlington will benefit
from smoother, more reliable trains. The IRP delivers not just
for our largest cities but for smaller places and towns. For
example, Kettering, Market Harborough, Leicester, Loughborough,
Grantham, Newark, Retford, Doncaster, Wakefield, Dewsbury,
Huddersfield and Stalybridge could all see improvements,
electrification or faster services, benefiting in ways they would
not have done under the original HS2 programme.
We are not stopping there. Today’s plan is about those places
that connect and interact with HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail
and the scale of ambition, with many of these projects lying
outside the scope. Only yesterday, I opened the first reversal of
the Beeching axe. We will be doing the same in Northumberland for
the Ashington-Blyth-Newcastle line and many others. We are
investing £2 billion in cycling and walking, £3 billion in
turn-up-and-go bus services, and tens of billions in our
country’s roads. After decades of decline, with constrained
capacity and poor reliability, this plan will finally give
passengers in the north and the midlands the services they need
and deserve.
It is not just about infrastructure; we are going to make train
travel much easier as well. Today I can confirm £360 million to
reform fares and ticketing, with the roll-out of contactless
pay-as-you-go ticketing for 700 urban stations, including 400 in
the north.
This is a landmark plan, by far the biggest of any network
improvement and focused on the north and the midlands. With more
seats, more frequent services, and shorter journeys, it meets the
needs of today’s passengers and future generations. We are
getting started immediately with another £625 million for
electrification between Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds, bringing
the total on the TransPennine route upgrade to £2 billion and
counting, and £249 million to further electrify the midland main
line between Kettering and Market Harborough, with work starting
on the integrated rail plan by Christmas.
Communities of every size will benefit, right across the north
and midlands, in many cases years earlier than planned. By taking
a fresh look at HS2, and how it fits with the rest of the rail
system, we will be able to build a much-improved railway that
will provide similar or better services to almost every
destination than the outdated vision drawn up for HS2 over a
decade ago. This plan will bring the north and midlands closer
together, fire up economies to rival London and the south-east,
rebalance our economic geography, spread opportunity, level up
the country and bring benefits at least a decade or more earlier.
I commend this statement to the House.
11:15:00
(Oldham West and Royton)
(Lab/Co-op)
I thank the Secretary of State for advance sight of his
statement. We will be going out shortly to collect the plan and
scrutinise it. I am frankly staggered by how this statement
started, with the Secretary of State saying he was “proud” to
present it to the House—proud of what? Is he proud of the
betrayal of trust, the betrayal of promises and the betrayal of
the investment that the north of England and the midlands
deserve?
We have all seen the reports over the weekend, each one setting
out the betrayal being put forward today. There is no amount of
gloss or spin that can be put on it. The Secretary of State
promised HS2 to Leeds. He promised Northern Powerhouse Rail. He
promised that the north would not be forgotten, but he has not
just forgotten us; he has completely sold us out.
As someone who lives in Greater Manchester, I am not going to
take lectures on what Northern Powerhouse Rail means. We know
exactly what it means. We were committing to a new line
connecting Manchester and Leeds, and within a month of becoming
Prime Minister, said:
“I am going to deliver on my commitment with a pledge to fund the
Leeds to Manchester route.”
We were promised a new line. He has broken that promise, and he
has not even got the decency to admit it.
Let us be clear: the scaling back of Northern Powerhouse Rail,
coupled with the scrapping of the eastern leg of HS2, is a
massive blow for our regions. The schemes would have created
150,000 new jobs, connecting 13 million people in our major towns
and cities in our industrial heartlands. The then-Chancellor
first announced plans for
Northern Powerhouse Rail in 2014. Since then, the Conservatives,
including the Prime Minister and the Transport Secretary, have
recommitted and re-promised 60 times.
This is a once-in-a-generation chance to transform opportunity
across the whole country, to rebalance the economy and make it
work for working people, but that opportunity now looks set to be
lost. They are the very same working people who will likely face
a record increase when rail fares go up next year. They will be
paying 50% more to get to work than they did a decade ago,
relying on a crumbling, unreliable and overcrowded system that
prioritises profit above passengers. It is the same with buses,
with fares up 70%, use down and not a single one of the 4,000
zero-emission buses promised by the Prime Minister three years
ago having been delivered.
What is on offer? Some £96 billion that we should be grateful
for, but let us unpack that £96 billion, £40 billion of which has
already been committed from London to Crewe, but is being
labelled as investment across the north of England. Of the £56
billion that remains, if we compare that with what the north of
England would have got over the past decade had it had the same
investment as London and the south-east, we are still £10 billion
short. We are not going to accept crumbs off the table.
Labour would reform our transport networks so that they work for
working people, with investment spread more evenly across the
country so that parents are not forced to see their children
leave the places where they were raised to find opportunity that
is denied on their doorstep. Most importantly, Labour would put
working people first, using the power of Government and the skill
of business to ensure good-quality jobs are created here and in
every single region of Britain.
The Prime Minister was elected on a promise to level the playing
field and make things better for households across the country.
We were promised a northern powerhouse. We were promised a
midlands engine. We were promised that we would be levelled up,
but what we have been given today is the great train
robbery—robbing the north of its chance to realise its full
potential, robbing the next generation of the hope and
opportunity they are due and robbing 15 million people across the
north of the investment they have been denied for 11 years under
this rotten Government.
I just want to make sure I understand the hon. Gentleman’s
approach—his lines, as it were. This is £96 billion of
expenditure, the single biggest investment ever. We have made no
secret of the fact that some of that money is already the
Birmingham to Crewe line, the Crewe to Manchester line; last time
I checked, that benefits the midlands and north, does it not?
That does help.
I realise the hon. Gentleman either wrote his response before
hearing what was in the statement, or decided to ignore it,
because this is a brand-new high-speed line—I just want to check
the geography—from Warrington to Manchester to Marsden in the
west of Yorkshire. To judge by his response, he does not think
that exists.
What confuses me the most overall is that the Leader of the
Opposition seems to be in a completely separate place. He
said:
“I oppose HS2 on cost and on merit: it will not achieve its
stated objectives.”—[Official Report, 15 September 2015; Vol.
599, c. 1006.]
So he opposes HS2. For transparency, he said that in 2015. What
has he said more recently?
“The government should take this opportunity to cancel HS2”.
That is the Leader of the Opposition speaking. Before the hon.
Member for Oldham West and Royton () gets carried away, why does
he not have a word with the leader of his party and work out
whether they agree on his position?
This is an enormous investment. It will create three new
high-speed lines. It electrifies track; just today, nearly 400
miles of track electrification was announced within these
programmes. What a contrast with the 63 miles of track the Labour
Government managed to electrify in 13 years in office.
I will finish by talking about the importance of the overall
transport approach. This is not just about rail, as the hon.
Gentleman rightly pointed out, but about other means of getting
around. We cannot get around without a roads programme, and we
have a £20 billion-plus road building programme. Labour opposes
it. They do not want to build any roads, so I am not sure where
he wants to run those buses he keeps talking about.
I have already written to the hon. Gentleman, and I think I am
right in saying I sent the letter to the Library of the House,
because he will continue to go around saying that of these 4,000
buses, none are on the road. That is factually untrue. I have
written to him with the detail: 900 of those buses are ordered,
many of them already on the road. I know it is the Opposition’s
job to oppose, but if he is already opposing his own leader, no
wonder they do not have a cohesive transport policy.
(Bexhill and Battle) (Con)
The Prime Minister promised that HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail
were not an either/or option. Those in Leeds and Bradford might
be forgiven for viewing it today as neither. That is the danger
in selling perpetual sunlight and leaving it for others to
explain the arrival of moonlight. On a stand-alone basis, this
plan comprises some fantastic projects that will slash journey
times and better connect our great northern cities, and for that
the Transport team deserve much credit. My question is this: it
costs us in this country £2 million to deliver a single kilometre
of electrified track. The Germans can do that for less than
£500,000 because they have a rolling programme of
electrification. What steps has the Secretary of State taken to
ensure that this new plan can be delivered to time and to this
cost?
My hon. Friend is absolutely right about the improvements in
journey times. For example, on Bradford, which has been talked
about a great deal, it will be 12 minutes from Bradford to Leeds.
What we called for, and what everyone was calling for, is London
or south-east-style connectivity, and 12 minutes between two of
the north’s great cities as a result of this plan is one of those
potential upgrades—not potential; it is one of the upgrades in
the plan.
My hon. Friend is absolutely right about the cost of
electrification. A lot of these things seem to cost a lot more in
this country. The rail Minister—the Minister of State, Department
for Transport, my hon. Friend the Member for Daventry ()—is carrying out an
electrification challenge to bring the sector in and challenging
it to build on electrification much faster than currently
happens. Of course, in addition to electrification, we also have
zero-carbon trains, electric trains and hydrogen trains such as
the HydroFLEX, which will help to resolve some of the more
difficult-to-electrify areas, although, as I say, we have full
fat electrification on nearly 400 miles of line as a result of
today’s plan.
(Paisley and Renfrewshire
North) (SNP)
I thank the Secretary of State for advance sight of his
statement, although I did read most of it in a newspaper
beforehand.
I do admire the Secretary of State’s hutzpah for the most bullish
U-turn I have yet seen in this place. He talks of Beeching
reversal; this is nothing but an HS2 reversal. Bit by bit, HS2
and its grand vision for a rail network that might actually
belong in the 21st century rather than in the 19th century is
being salami-sliced until all that is left is a Birmingham to
London shuttle with a few token services to Manchester,
benefiting few, but costing us all.
Perhaps the Secretary of State should ask for some tips from the
French Government, whose high-speed rail network is now 2,800 km
long, or from the Germans, who have over 3,000 km. Denmark is
building high-speed rail to link with Germany’s network,
including an 11-mile tunnel under the Baltic sea. Meanwhile, the
UK cannot even manage linking itself.
On electrification, the 2015 manifesto promised electrification
to Windermere, south Wales and the midlands, and they were
ditched, so forgive me if we are sceptical about today’s promises
not meeting the same fate. For a country that started the railway
age and produced Brunel, Stephenson and Joseph Locke, England is
now badly served by its transport leadership—a leadership that no
number of glossy reports and reviews can paper over.
Can I ask the Secretary of State what implications this will have
for Barnett consequentials for both Wales and Scotland? Will
Wales now receive its fair share of funding if HS2 money is being
redeployed elsewhere? Can he confirm that Barnett will also apply
to Scotland’s funding? Given that the Scottish Government are
miles ahead of the UK on decarbonisation, electrification and
active travel, at least we know something useful will be done
with that cash.
Perhaps it is time that levelling up applied to the DFT. Move the
Department up to Newcastle, Carlisle or Doncaster, and quickly
find out at what level the rest of England operates when given a
shoestring to run a public transport network that is in the 21st
century in theory only. Experiencing the third class network the
north of England is expected to endure every day as compared with
that in Greater London might sharpen a few minds in the DFT as to
where their priorities lie in the future.
As the hon. Member knows, the Treasury is going to Darlington and
the DFT has actually gone to Leeds and Birmingham. We already
have 70 staff up at our Leeds office, and they will be delighted
to be able to travel around much faster as a result of this plan
today.
I should mention that the plan involves £12.8 billion of upgrade
of the eastern core. This is upgrading the east coast main line,
digital signalling and the like. We are not near capacity on
those routes yet. The £12.8 billion will help with the journey up
the east coast. Of course, the plan today also confirms the west
coast update—the HS2 part of it rather—meaning that journeys to
Scotland will be a great deal faster as a result. There are lots
of benefits, when it comes to Scotland, from bringing these
journey times way down as a result of this investment in HS2, and
this plan today delivers on that.
(Cleethorpes) (Con)
I welcome the Secretary of State’s statement, which I think is a
good balance between what was hoped for and what can actually be
achieved. I am sure it was an oversight that he did not mention
Cleethorpes in his statement. Can he assure me that the restored
direct link between Cleethorpes and King’s Cross, which is in the
London North Eastern Railway draft timetable, will indeed begin,
I hope next year, but certainly by 2023? Can he also assure me
that the east-west freight corridor from the Humber ports is
still a priority?
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. I missed that out in my
foreword and I apologise—Cleethorpes should certainly get a
mention. I am working with my hon. Friend the Minister of State
() on a potential direct
service from Cleethorpes to London. Just a week or two ago I
visited the ports, and I know the importance of connectivity with
those ports.
(Leeds Central) (Lab)
The Prime Minister repeatedly promised that HS2 and Northern
Powerhouse Rail would be built in full. Today that promise has
been broken, and Leeds and the north have been betrayed. Can the
Minister explain—this is insofar as I understand the details; I
have yet to read the full report—the logic of taking HS2 from
Birmingham to East Midlands Parkway, building a new high-speed
line from Leeds to Sheffield, but leaving a huge great big hole
in the middle, which would have Victorian railway engineers
scratching their heads in disbelief, to save what The Times says
is £10.3 billion? What is the purpose of doing that?
I think I can reassure the right hon. Gentleman. One of the
purposes of Northern Powerhouse Rail, which we are delivering, is
to slash journey times, for example from Leeds to Manchester, and
we will deliver exactly that. We will provide a journey time of
33 minutes from Leeds to Manchester, which he will know is a very
significant improvement. That is not the only thing. We will also
cut the journey time from Leeds to London to one hour 53 minutes,
and to Birmingham it will be an hour and a half. All those
journey times will be coming down dramatically because of the
steps we are taking today. We have also announced £100 million to
look at the best way to run HS2 trains into Leeds, as well as to
sort out the long-term problem that Leeds does not have a mass
transport system—I think it is the biggest city in Europe without
one. We know there have been many attempts at that over the
years, but this time we intend to ensure it is followed through.
There is a lot for Leeds in this package, which includes, as it
happens, getting Northern Powerhouse Rail to run to Leeds, and I
hope the right hon. Gentleman’s constituents will feel the
benefits of that.
(Keighley) (Con)
The creation of economic prosperity across Keighley and the whole
Bradford district is something I care deeply about, and it is
linked to the creation of better transport connectivity. I am
deeply disappointed by today’s announcement, and in my view, the
Bradford district has been completely short changed. We are one
of the most socially deprived parts of the UK, and we must get
better transport connectivity. I still want Northern Powerhouse
Rail to be delivered with a main stop in Bradford, so that we can
unlock our economic opportunities. Will my right hon. Friend
explain to the House what the Government are doing to deliver
better, more reliable, and cheaper rail services for my
constituents in Keighley?
Let me make sure that my hon. Friend understands and appreciates
the full relevance of today: a 12-minute journey from Bradford to
Leeds, which is nearly half the current journey time; at least 30
minutes off the Bradford to London journey, after the upgrades
are complete. There were other plans, which were not at all
fleshed out—I know Transport for the North and others had talked
about building all sorts of different versions of this, and one
version was indeed the TransPennine route upgrade. However, there
was a problem with those other plans: I mean no disrespect to my
hon. Friend, but he may well not be an MP in 2043—perhaps he will
be—to see those things delivered. The advantages I am talking
about such as the 12-minute journey, and 30 minutes off the
journey from Bradford to London, will be delivered in his first
couple of terms as a Member of Parliament.
(Newcastle upon Tyne
North) (Lab)
The Secretary of State knows fine well that the promised
integrated infrastructure investment is about capacity as much as
travel times. The Government are just not being straight, as they
are asking northerners to put up with make do and mend, rather
than the infrastructure we were promised. Is that because they
continue to see the north as a problem to solve, rather than an
opportunity to invest in? Is this not just another broken promise
from this Prime Minister and Chancellor, who have seemingly
cancelled levelling up because there are Tories on the line? It
appears that the Prime Minister is once again driving a train
into the ditch and off the track on his way to the north.
Listening to the hon. Lady, one would think I had just come to
the Dispatch Box to announce that Newcastle will have a longer
journey time to London. The answer is exactly the opposite. As a
result of the plans I am announcing today, the journey from
Newcastle to London will be 21 minutes shorter. One would have
thought she would be standing up and welcoming today’s massive
investment in the train services that will benefit her
constituents. Even if she does not appreciate it, I rather
suspect her constituents will.
(Harrogate and Knaresborough)
(Con)
I thank my right hon. Friend for his statement and I look forward
to reading the detail of the plan. He has given us a complex
statement, because there are many changes to existing plans, but
it is absolutely clear that no Government have ever invested on
this scale in British history. He should not take any lessons
from the Labour party, which did nothing on the issue. Will he
provide a bit more detail on the timescales for delivery?
Specifically, when will people in Yorkshire be able to take
advantage of the enhanced services he is talking about? Can he
comment a little further on the environmental benefits? I am
thinking particularly about the improved clearances for rail
freight.
On the environmental advantages, it will interest the House to
know that HS2 is being built in as an environmentally friendly a
way as possible. Section 2B west is intended to be a net positive
carbon contribution, not just in its running but in its entire
life cycle, which will be very important. I refer the House and
my hon. Friend to pages 134 and 135, which contain the full
timescale for when the various different benefits will arrive at
different locations. In every case, the advantages will start
arriving much, much sooner than under the original plans. All the
people who say we should have just carried on ploughing on with
the original HS2 plan need to explain why it was right to wait
until the 2040s for their constituents to feel the benefits. This
way, the benefits will start to be felt by this Christmas, when
work gets under way on the midland main line and from work
already under way on the TransPennine route.
(Birmingham, Hodge Hill)
(Lab)
I want to follow up on the question asked by my right hon. Friend
the Member for Leeds Central (). I want to understand the new
east-west division that the Secretary of State has set out today.
As I understand it, our constituents moving from Leeds to
Manchester will travel by high-speed train south of Leeds, then
change trains to get a train to Nottingham Parkway, and then get
on a new high-speed train from Nottingham Parkway to Birmingham.
I think that is what the Secretary of State set out. Since we
approved this plan in Cabinet, China has built 23,500 miles of
high-speed line. This Tory Government have built none. We have
had a review every year and the Secretary of State has just
destroyed the plans. Hundreds of millions of pounds in Birmingham
is predicated on being at the heart of a network, not a
mish-mash. How can we now believe the plan he has set out?
I should point out that China does not have the same health and
safety approach as us. It has a slightly different view of how
many people it is acceptable to kill per mile of track laid, and
I do not think the right hon. Gentleman is seriously considering
we go down that route. I know that he represents a Birmingham
constituency and I know that the Mayor of the West Midlands has
broadly welcomed this package. Birmingham does very well out of
it. The connection that was not initially envisaged in the HS2
plan, between the biggest cities in the midlands, such as
Birmingham and Nottingham, will now be complete with not just a
parkway station, but with stations into the city centres of
Nottingham and Derby connecting Birmingham. That will be
fantastic news for his constituents. He asked about trains. No,
people will not be changing trains. They will be on the same
train all the way through.
(Stone) (Con)
I did not hear the Secretary of State mention the stretch between
Birmingham and Crewe, which cuts straight through my constituency
from top to bottom, causing massive misery to my constituents.
Will my right hon. Friend confirm that discussions have taken
place to improve the situation? Will he and the Minister of
State, Department for Transport, my hon. Friend the Member for
Pendle () commit to continuing to
listen to the proposed solutions, which would mitigate the misery
and help to solve the problems faced by my constituents?
It is absolutely right that HS2 has had a big impact on a lot of
communities, or it does as it is built, and there are different
advantages in different places for Members and their
constituents. I am delighted to assure my hon. Friend that he can
continue to work with the HS2 Minister, my hon. Friend the Member
for Pendle (), who has done wonders to
improve the relationship with the communities to try to bring
benefits—even where there are not necessarily stops—to
communities along the HS2 line through some of the community
funds and other things. I will recommit to that for my hon.
Friend the Member for Stone ( ) today.
(Kingston upon Hull North)
(Lab)
It was five years ago on Tuesday that Tory Ministers blocked the
privately financed rail electrification to Hull, and there was
not one mention today of the great city of the north, Hull, and
the economically important area of the Humber. Will the Secretary
of State explain why passengers in Hull, who pay more for their
train tickets and get a poorer service, will now have to wait
even longer? I cannot see anything in the detail to show that the
Prime Minister is delivering on his promise for Northern
Powerhouse Rail. In the Hull and the Humber area, levelling up
means absolutely nothing.
The right hon. Lady would be right if it did not matter to her
constituents, for example, to be able to travel to Manchester 30
minutes faster than they can at the moment—[Interruption.] Yes,
from Hull to Manchester, it will be 30 minutes faster than it is
at the moment. If it did not matter to them to be able to travel
quickly and efficiently down the east coast main line, I suppose
she would be right, but the reality is that this plan actually
delivers all those things. It would be a lot less disingenuous
for her to come to the House and welcome these huge improvements,
with journey times 30 minutes faster to Manchester and much
faster to London, and potentially with more trains per hour
because of the increased capacity. I would have thought that she
would welcome those things.
(Broxtowe) (Con)
I thank the Government for this positive announcement on rail
infrastructure in the east midlands, but will my right hon.
Friend outline his plan for Toton in my constituency?
My hon. Friend has been an incredible advocate for Toton and the
surrounding area. Today is really a triumph for him, because not
only will we ensure that we connect up the major cities—so,
Birmingham to Nottingham—but we have committed to Toton to ensure
that the brand-new development also gets development funding,
which will be matched by the private sector, in order to develop
a station that allows Toton to fulfil the role for which he has
campaigned so assiduously. Toton is very much in the plan today
and I think that he will be delighted with what he reads.
(Blackley and Broughton)
(Lab)
The Secretary of State has done an extraordinarily good job of
presenting what No. 10 is briefing to the press is an £18 billion
reduction in the rail investment programme. That is the truth. He
has also not told the House that the plan involves getting rid of
the tunnels that take HS2 through Manchester to a low-level
station at Manchester Piccadilly. Will he do an assessment of the
impact that putting HS2 on stilts through Manchester will have on
potential regeneration? HS2 will bring regeneration, but if we
put it in the air like that, it is most likely to sterilise the
areas on either side. He would not have put Crossrail on stilts
in Greater London.
It is worth explaining to the House that the tunnels will bring
HS2 into Manchester; it will not be on stilts coming in. I think
that the hon. Gentleman is referring specifically to the station
element, which has been studied and re-studied many different
times. Of course, we can only spend the same money once and we
need to spend it as wisely as possible. If we spend £6 billion or
£7 billion building the station underground at Manchester, we
will take away from Liverpool, Leeds, Hull or some of the other
places that are calling for money. He rightly points out that for
the difference of four minutes in the journey from Manchester to
Leeds, for example, the cost will be £18 billion less, but that
does not take away from the fact that in today’s announcement
there is £23 billion for Northern Powerhouse Rail, including new
high-speed lines from Warrington to West Yorkshire and all the
huge upgrades that we have been describing. Manchester is a
principal beneficiary of this entire programme and we wish his
constituents well in their new journey times.
(Sedgefield) (Con)
I welcome the announcement and particularly the improved speed of
delivery. Once in a generation would be good; I do not know
whether my hon. Friend the Member for Keighley () will be here in 2043, but I
will be 83 years old, so I do not want it to take that long.
I really encourage as much UK provision into the supply line as
possible. I will be leaving the House later today to zoom back up
to Sedgefield on a train built in Newton Aycliffe; I hope we see
many more of those. On supply, there is a bit of uncertainty
among residents about the impact on things like the Restoring
Your Railway programme at places such as Ferryhill. We need to
make sure that that proceeds, but it is also important that we
head north. What opportunities will come for the Leamside line to
deliver north for Sedgefield?
It is worth saying that 97% of HS2 companies are UK-registered.
More than 2,000 businesses are involved in the delivery; as my
hon. Friend knows, many are bidding for things like the train
delivery. There will be further announcements on that side of
things soon.
On improvements, I know that Darlington has had capacity
constraints—I have been to see them for myself—that will be
massively improved as a result of our plans. All in all, it is
very good news for my hon. Friend’s constituents in
Sedgefield.
(Bradford South) (Lab)
I have to say that the Secretary of State’s upbeat statement does
not really chime with reality. It represents missed opportunities
for the people and businesses of Bradford. The short-sighted
decision puts at risk the more than £30 billion in economic
benefits that would have flowed from a full NPR with a city
centre train stop for Bradford. The disparity in the statement is
huge: it is big on rhetoric and short on delivery. Just how long
has it been known that the promises on HS2 and NPR would be
broken, letting down the people of Bradford and the people of the
north?
For the hon. Lady’s constituents who want to travel to Leeds, I
think the journey at the moment is 20 to 22 minutes. The good
news is that after today’s announcement, it will take 12 minutes.
That will bring real connectivity between two great northern
cities, which is incredibly important.
It is also important to say that the Government have always said
that we will look at the best ways to improve efficiency and
reliability. Should the hon. Lady’s constituents need to travel
down to London, as she does, I am pleased to say that once work
has been completed, they will be able to get here 30 minutes
faster. Again, that is a very significant delivery. As we have
been saying, these things will not happen in decades’ time, in
the 2040s; they will be happening this decade. That is incredibly
important as well.
I believe that this is a plan that will deliver for the hon.
Lady’s constituents in Bradford. Of course, there are always more
things and there is always the future. It is important that
people know the current plans so that they can plan for those
things. Right now, the connectivity between Bradford and Leeds is
improving so much that I am sure it will make many people think
about how fortunate they are to be able to get to another major
city so fast after these plans are in place.
(Gainsborough) (Con)
HS2 was always a white elephant, but as far as the east coast is
concerned, it is now a white elephant missing a leg. We were
promised that it would relieve congestion on the east coast main
line because it would go to Leeds. Where is that promise?
There is one promise that the Secretary of State can keep. For
years, as my hon. Friend the Member for Cleethorpes () said, we have been promised
a through train that would serve a quarter of a million people
and go from Grimsby and Cleethorpes, through Market Rasen in my
constituency and Lincoln, down to London. We are still waiting.
Just saying, “We are working on it,” is not enough. We have had
these promises again and again. Will I be standing here in 2043,
when I am 93, still asking for my train?
I suspect that my right hon. Friend will be making a very
passionate case! I know that my hon. Friend the Member for
Daventry (), the Rail Minister, is
working on the business case.
Let me say something about the east coast main line. What is
often misunderstood is that a huge number of upgrades were
carried out on the west coast main line in the 1990s to increase
capacity, and it was maxed out. On the east coast, those
upgrades, which now include digital signalling and other
technologies that were not available then, mean that there is
still a fair amount of capacity to be exploited. I do not
understand the argument of those who say, “Never mind about
maxing out the capacity, the electrification, the digitalisation
of signalling; let us just rip through and build yet another
line.” We should do the things that work and deliver the fastest,
in our lifetimes, and that is what this plan will achieve.
(Sheffield South East)
(Lab)
There has been a great deal of commitment to HS2 in Sheffield,
across the political parties and in the business community, so
today there will be a lot of anger. People will feel that
Sheffield has once again been snubbed and left behind. I believe
that as a consolation we are to see the electrification of the
midland main line. Is that the third time it has been promised?
It has already been scrapped twice, so are we going to be third
time lucky? What is the guarantee?
There are a great many questions to be asked about, for instance,
the links between Sheffield and the other major cities, and
whether there will be investment in our tram network, including
badly needed links to our hospitals. Will the Secretary of State
therefore agree to meet Sheffield Members of Parliament,
representatives of the city council and the mayor to discuss the
details of these proposals and what they actually mean for our
city?
I know that my hon. Friend the Member for Pendle (), the HS2 Minister, is
champing at the bit to have exactly that discussion.
I would not want the hon. Gentleman to have inadvertently misled
the House or his constituents about today’s announcement, because
the good news for him and his constituents is that exactly the
same journey times that were promised to him through HS2 now
apply to Sheffield, and that rather than having to wait until
2043—as I have said several times—for, in particular, the midland
main line upgrades, we will be starting that work this
Christmas.
Mr Betts
Will we have the meeting?
Yes.
(Hyndburn) (Con)
Levelling up across the north means improving our transport and
connectivity links for communities such as mine in Hyndburn and
Haslingden. As the Secretary of State will know, I have been
lobbying about the reopening of the Skipton-to-Colne railway line
and the freight terminal, but it is still the case that a 25-mile
journey by rail and road can take up to an hour by rail and
easily two and a half hours by road at the peak of the rush hour.
Can the Secretary of State explain how what has been announced
will achieve levelling up in communities like mine, and assure me
that there is still a focus on smaller projects?
One of the big announcements today was about smart ticketing,
which will make journeys much easier and more convenient for
people, and will also enable fares to be capped. If
someone—perhaps one of my hon. Friend’s constituents—uses the
train several times a week, on more days than they originally
budgeted for, and has no season ticket, this version of smart
ticketing will enable a contactless system to repay the person’s
credit card at the end of the week.
It is true—I want to be completely up front—that not every single
town, city and village in the country will benefit from the plan,
but this is not the end of it. We still have the rail network
enhancements pipeline—the RNEP—which my hon. Friend the Rail
Minister is working on, and, of course, many other programmes,
including Restoring Your Railway, which will bring further
opportunities.
I should be happy to organise a meeting between my hon. Friend
and the Rail Minister—and let me, for the sake of clarification,
repeat to the hon. Member for Sheffield South East (Mr Betts)
that his request for a meeting was accepted.
(Huddersfield)
(Lab/Co-op)
My priority for so many years has been the connectivity of the
towns and cities across the north-west of England, and Yorkshire
in particular. It would be wrong of me not to say that there was
some good news in this morning’s statement—I believe that there
are some advantages for Huddersfield—but the problem is that, as
my hon. Friend the Member for Sheffield South East (Mr Betts) has
said, there is a hole in the middle of this plan. It is not
strategic enough, it is not integrated enough, and it is not
ambitious enough. There is some good stuff in it, but will the
Secretary of State go back and have a rethink about the boldness
and the timescale?
I welcome the hon. Gentleman’s tone. I know that he was never a
fan of HS2 originally. He is right to say that there are many
benefits for Huddersfield in this plan—for example, journey times
to Birmingham Curzon Street will be cut, there will be more
trains to Leeds, and services will improve. However, he is right
about the importance of ensuring that this can be stitched into
the wider rail network. I think that once he has had an
opportunity to read the integrated rail plan, he will find
answers to many of his queries, and I welcome his at least tacit
support for some of these measures.
(Wellingborough) (Con)
I am grateful that the excellent Secretary of State has come to
the House and made, as Sir Humphrey would say, such a
“courageous” decision. It would be much easier politically to
carry on with HS2, but today’s announcement will give better
service to more people. In my constituency in the east midlands,
electrification going north from Wellingborough is overdue and
will be welcomed. We would not have benefited in any way from
HS2. Will he say that, because of his courageous decision, he
will still be in place next week?
You never know in politics. My hon. Friend makes the good point
that electrification can be a real game changer on our railways.
I think I am right in saying that he has already experienced it
up to his constituency but not further north. This plan completes
it and brings electrification of the midland main line up
to Sheffield, which will make a dramatic difference to him and
his constituents. I thank him for welcoming it.
(Richmond Park) (LD)
The announcement scraps much-needed plans to improve rail
capacity and connections in communities in the midlands and the
north, where economic prosperity should have been boosted. Just a
few weeks ago, the Chancellor announced plans to make it cheaper
to take domestic flights. Can the Secretary of State explain how
those plans together deliver against either of the Government’s
stated objectives of levelling up and tackling climate
change?
I thought that the hon. Lady was going to ask about how the plan
benefits Richmond specifically—I suppose it does for those who
want to travel to anywhere in the midlands or north. She is right
that it is important that people can travel affordably by rail.
It is also right to remind the House that, in all these
decisions, we have to consider the wider purse and taxpayers’
money. We have spent £15 billion keeping our rail service going
during coronavirus outside of all the other expenditure and we
come to the House today with a £96 billion investment package. Of
course, we will always try to balance the direct costs to the
individual passenger making a journey with those to the wider
taxpayer who is supporting the infrastructure. It is always my
goal to get more people travelling on the trains and public
transport—that is, I think, a worthy goal—and I think these plans
will help that in the future.
(Thirsk and Malton)
(Con)
One feature of Northern Powerhouse Rail as I understood it was a
completely new line from Leeds to Bradford and Manchester, and
the journey from Bradford to Manchester was to take 20 minutes.
Will my right hon. Friend confirm that now it will be more like
45 minutes? Additionally, the new station in Bradford that would
have given a King’s Cross-style regeneration opportunity to
Bradford, which is in severe need of it, will be missed. Will he
confirm that, by not doing that, an economic price will be paid
for generations?
No. With the greatest respect, I do not accept that narrative for
several reasons. First, that was Transport for the North’s
suggestion—and actually it was to be a 29-minute journey. That
was one of the options, and another of those options is what we
are doing. Secondly, as I have said to the House, there are many
benefits to Bradford—including that 12-minute journey to Leeds
and a journey at least half an hour shorter to London—which all
come about because of the integrated rail plan. Governments have
to make decisions, and I accept that we cannot do everything all
of the time everywhere, but, when my hon. Friend speaks to his
constituents, he will be able to tell them about dramatically
improved journey times as a result of the plan.
(Rochdale) (Lab)
A few moments ago, in response to the hon. Member for
Wellingborough (Mr Bone), the Secretary of State extolled the
virtues of electrification. Any real plan for the north of
England would have: electrification from the seats of my hon.
Friends in Hull all the way through to Liverpool; access to
Sheffield from Manchester; and access to Newcastle and the
north-east. That scale of imagination is lacking in the
announcement. Will he guarantee that no damage will be done that
would prevent a more ambitious programme in the future?
It might have been lost in translation, but Liverpool to York is
a core part of the NPR programme. As I have said before, it will
be electrified and have some high-speed lines, too. None of this
prevents further electrification. There are new plans to stretch
beyond Hull to Newcastle and more. Obviously, no Government can
do this in a single go. The plans I have announced today
accelerate dramatically the advantages that constituents will get
across the north, because it will now happen in this
decade—starting from Christmas. This speeds up a lot of that, and
the hon. Gentleman is right to say it does not prejudice anything
else happening in the future.
(South West Wiltshire)
(Con)
My right hon. Friend is right to say that not every city, town
and village will benefit from this plan, but one thing is for
sure, which is that they will all be paying for it and there are
opportunity costs. Does he understand the disquiet of my
constituents about HS2 and now this plan, given that he has
limited bandwidth and what he is spending on one project is not
being spent on upgrading services elsewhere? Will he throw my
constituents a small crumb by delaying the planned closure of
services from Bristol Temple Meads to Waterloo via Trowbridge and
Salisbury, pending a proper consultation that will show very
clearly that the Great Western Railway service he thinks
duplicates services run by South Western Railway is over capacity
now and certainly will be once he closes the GWR service?
My right hon. Friend is right that every decision has a
trade-off, which is why it is important that we think about the
country as a whole. He will be pleased to hear that I was down in
the south-west yesterday using South Western Railway, and I
appreciate the importance of that service. I will ensure that he
meets the Rail Minister, my hon. Friend the Member for Daventry
(), to discuss his
specific concerns.
(York Central)
(Lab/Co-op)
Today’s announcement will be a bitter blow to my constituents and
the local economy in York, not least because we all know, and the
Secretary of State knows, that the trans-Pennine route upgrade
will not have the necessary capacity to deliver the rail speeds
and connectivity that we need. Will he publish the capacity of
that route so that we can understand how my constituents can move
west in a timely way?
Yes, I will. The capacity figures are in the document itself. I
do not want the hon. Lady to go away from this Chamber and
inadvertently mislead her constituents. Journey times from York
to Manchester, which are 55 minutes today, will be 28 minutes.
There will be a dramatic improvement, and it would be
extraordinary if she described that as bad news.
The hon. Lady will see that the capacity figures are in the
integrated rail plan and, yes, the capacity is there to do
it.
(Fylde) (Con)
I broadly welcome this package of measures, which starts to boost
some of the regional economies in the north. Will the Secretary
of State make sure that he keeps a keen eye on some of the small
local projects, such as the South Fylde line? We currently have
one train an hour running from Blackpool South through Fylde and
into Preston. We need to make sure that we are investing in such
small projects to bring meaningful change.
There is an awful lot coming alongside the IRP, which is just one
part of our rail infrastructure. The rail network enhancements
pipeline has tens of billions of pounds, and there are also
programmes such as the Beeching reversals—I have been to my hon.
Friend’s patch in the past to talk about some of those reversals.
There are many other opportunities for Members on both sides of
the House to look to improve their rail services. The Government
are building new lines and just yesterday, as I mentioned
earlier, I opened one that had stopped running in the 1970s.
(Gateshead) (Lab)
I was personally invested in HS2 as a member of the hybrid Bill
Committee for the section from London to Birmingham. I sat on
that Committee for 15 months, so I have some understanding of
what is happening. Only nine months, one week and one day ago,
the Prime Minister answered my question:
“I can certainly confirm that we are going to develop the eastern
leg as well as the whole of the HS2.”—[Official Report, 10
February 2021; Vol. 689, c. 324.]
To people in the north of England who live well north of Leeds,
this now looks as though HS2 was affordable for the south but it
was not affordable for the north. If we are going to put this
right, we need to get local schemes such as the Leamside line,
the Bensham curve and the new Gateshead station put into the
programme, so that people can see some real benefit. It is not
just about getting to Leeds, to York, to London; it is about
getting from Newcastle to Carlisle, and from Newcastle to
Sunderland, to Hartlepool, to Middlesbrough, and those lines take
an age. So, Secretary of State, let us make sure that what the
Prime Minister said to me nine months ago is not just more empty
rhetoric from the bank of broken promises.
The hon. Gentleman makes a good point about new lines. The
Ashington to Newcastle line, which is likely to be the second or
third Beeching reversal, will do exactly what he has asked for:
it will bring services from Ashington, through Blyth, to
Newcastle. These are brand new lines. This integrated rail plan
is not the whole picture; it is the part of the picture that was
to do with NPR and midlands rail. I know that he dismisses it,
but a 21-minute improvement on journeys from Newcastle to London
because of this plan will be appreciated by his constituents—I
cannot think why it would not be. It is exactly the sort of
capacity improvement that we want to see. I remind him and the
whole House: this is not the end state of our railway. It is just
the next stage, which will immediately provide a 21-minute
improvement for his constituents.
Madam Deputy Speaker ( )
Order. I want to try to get everybody in, so let us have brief
questions and briefer answers.
(Mansfield) (Con)
I thank my right hon. Friend for this statement, as there is a
lot in the plan to welcome in Nottinghamshire, not least the
opportunity to build a new station at Toton, where we can create
thousands of jobs. Will he confirm for my Mansfield constituents
that there is good news in the plan on the Maid Marian line and
Robin Hood line, which can help them to access those jobs at
Toton?
My hon. Friend has been an extraordinary advocate, and
Nottinghamshire and his Mansfield constituents are big winners
today. Toton is coming, along the lines already discussed, and we
have that very important tie-up between Birmingham and
Nottingham—it just did not exist under previous plans—together
with Derby. He is right to say that those two lines get a mention
in today’s programme. There is much more work to do, of course,
to bring them to life.
(Nottingham North)
(Lab/Co-op)
Twice in this Chamber I have asked the Prime Minister to commit
to the HS2 eastern leg, and twice he has done so from that
Dispatch Box. Today, that promise goes up in smoke, as will
thousands of jobs associated with the project in the east
midlands—more skilled jobs lost in our community. This is
economic vandalism. My constituents will ask me why yet another
promise to our community has been broken. Will the Secretary of
State tell me what I should say to them?
Yes, the hon. Gentleman should tell them that under this plan
trains will come straight into the city centre of Nottingham,
which would not have happened under the original HS2 plan.
(Kettering) (Con)
In addition to the recently announced improvements to the train
service from Kettering, including a 46-minute, non-stop London to
Kettering service and the reintroduction of the half-hourly
service northwards, which was taken out by Labour in 2010, I
welcome the better connectivity that will be experienced by rail
passengers from Kettering as a result of the integrated rail
plan. Will the Secretary of State confirm the timetable for the
electrification of the midland main line and, in particular, the
section between Kettering and Market Harborough?
The good news is that that is starting very soon. I made
reference to work starting by Christmas and I think—this is
subject to my checking—that it is actually the Kettering section
that will be starting. I know that my hon. Friend’s area has
already benefited from rail electrification to the south, and
this brings it to the north as well.
(Denton and Reddish)
(Lab)
So in this downgraded plan, the Secretary of State has announced
a high-speed line between Liverpool, Warrington, Manchester and
the western boundary of Yorkshire. Just what we needed: a
Mancunian express to Saddleworth moor. We do not need a study in
how to get trains to Leeds. Just build what was promised: the
full Northern Powerhouse Rail. That is all we need.
Yes, of course, every Government could simply say, “Why don’t we
just do this? Why don’t we do that? Why don’t we do the other?”
However, eventually, it has to be paid for. More importantly, we
want to see it in the lifetime of our constituents now, not in
some never-never land in the 2040s. We want to see these
advantages delivered. The hon. Gentleman makes the important
point about why, as he rightly says, we are doing high-speed rail
to Marsden, in the west of Yorkshire. The answer is, as I am sure
he knows, because that is where the congestion is, coming out of
Manchester; that is where the trains are getting stuck because
there are not sufficient paths. This will resolve that problem
and give us a 33-minute Manchester to Leeds journey, which I
would have thought he would be welcoming for his
constituents.
(Eddisbury) (Con)
Residents just north of Crewe in my Eddisbury constituency, and
particularly those in and around Wimboldsley, have consistently
raised a number of specific concerns about the proposed route
through their area—namely in respect of salt and brine
subsidence, the location of the HS2 railyard, and the impact on
and possible viability of the excellent local primary school. My
hon. Friend the HS2 Minister has kindly agreed to meet those
residents, but will my right hon. Friend look again at the
substantial evidence they have accumulated, so that it can be
taken into consideration for any future proposals and he can
perhaps come up with a better alternative plan?
My hon. Friend is absolutely right. The design refinement
consultation is under way and will address many of his ongoing
concerns, and he is meeting my hon. Friend the HS2 Minister.
(Newcastle upon Tyne Central) (Lab)
It is not rocket science: the road to levelling up, however we
define it, goes by rail. That is the only way the north can
achieve the level of economic integration necessary to deliver
the high-pay, high-productivity jobs that my constituents
deserve. Will the Secretary of State confirm that this
watered-down, broken-promise plan, made in Whitehall, not the
north, means that every single Tory MP with a seat in the
north-east will go into the next election on a platform of “We
did you over last time; please let us do you over again”?
No, they will go in on the platform of saying that we have
reduced journey times, provided more seats and increased capacity
and reliability. For example, Newcastle to Peterborough is a big
winner, with 21 minutes cut off the train journey to London. I do
not know about my hon. Friends, but I think they will have plenty
to say.
(Rother Valley)
(Con)
On behalf of the people of Rother Valley, I thank the Government
for getting rid of the eastern leg of the 2b arm. It was a
damaging and destructive thing for South Yorkshire that would
have given us no benefits. Will the Secretary of State confirm
that, now that we have scrapped that ridiculously expensive
project, we are going to invest the money into the projects we
actually need, such as better regional buses, better regional
transport and better trans-Pennine links?
We are absolutely cognisant of the fact that we can spend the
money only once and want to make sure that it benefits as many
people as possible, and we are doing exactly that. I have said to
the House, we are still going to spend time, energy and money on
the best way to get HS2 trains to Leeds, but without some of the
disruption that my hon. Friend described.
(Leeds North West)
(Lab/Co-op)
I invite the Secretary of State to travel with me the 46 miles
from Otley in my constituency to Manchester Piccadilly at peak
time. He will then see the twin challenges of connectivity and
capacity. First, the bus turns up in Otley and then takes more
than an hour to get to Leeds train station, and there is then the
challenge of actually getting on the train to Manchester, because
it is full. That is why we need, first, Northern Powerhouse Rail
in full, because we need additional capacity, and secondly, £3
billion for a full mass transit system for West Yorkshire to be
not just promised but delivered into the coffers of the West
Yorkshire Combined Authority.
The good news is that there will be much-improved frequency of
trains from Leeds to Manchester—it looks like around three trains
an hour will become seven or eight trains an hour under the plan.
The hon. Gentleman will thereby get a lot of good things,
including a reduction in the capacity restrictions that are the
major cause of problems. That also answers the question asked by
the hon. Member for Denton and Reddish () a few moments ago about why
we need that link from Manchester out to West Yorkshire.
(Stoke-on-Trent South)
(Con)
I very much welcome what has been announced today. If we are
truly to level up opportunities in Stoke-on-Trent, we must
address the issues of capacity on the local network, and
particularly release the full benefits of HS2 and the fantastic
restoring your railway fund projects we have been working on.
Will my right hon. Friend agree to look at the capacity
enhancements that we want to see on the local network in and
around Stoke-on-Trent?
Stoke-on-Trent is, as ever, brilliantly represented by my hon.
Friend. He will get HS2 trains into the centre of Stoke, and we
will work closely with him to ensure that that benefits his
constituents in every possible way.
(Buckingham) (Con)
The strengthening of regional rail is the right thing to do and
my right hon. Friend has my support in that respect; however,
given that the original HS2 business case was ropey at best, will
my right hon. Friend set out what the loss of a leg does to the
overall business case? Surely, the right thing to do is to scrap
it altogether, save more than £100usb billion and put that into
more of the regional schemes.
My hon. Friend should tell that to the 2 miles of tunnel that has
already been dug for HS2. I know he has not been the HS2 plan’s
firmest supporter, but at this stage, with 20,000 people and
hundreds of apprenticeships working with HS2, I think that train
has probably left the station.
(High Peak) (Con)
I welcome the £96 billion, which represents the largest
investment in northern railways since Victoria sat on the
throne.
High Peak sits between the two great cities of Manchester and
Sheffield, which are just 30 miles apart but have some of the
worst transport links anywhere in the country. I therefore
welcome the Government’s commitment to tackle the issue with,
first, the Mottram bypass and Glossop spur road, and secondly,
the upgrade to the Hope Valley line, which I am pleased to see is
included in the integrated rail plan. Will the Secretary of State
agree to work with me and meet me so that we can ensure that not
only Manchester and Sheffield but passengers from places such as
New Mills, Chinley, Edale, Hope and Bamford benefit from that
upgrade?
My hon. Friend has been a doughty campaigner for his constituents
and, as he says, work on the Hope Valley line is under way, as
confirmed in the programme announced today. I am sure that it
will bring the wider benefits that my hon. Friend’s constituents
so desperately want.
(North West Durham)
(Con)
By anyone’s standards, £96 billion is a major investment. Will
the Secretary of State outline the improvements and timetable for
services from Durham and Darlington to London and to the great
cities of the north? The key thing for communities such as North
West Durham, where we currently have no train lines at all, is
connectivity, so will the Secretary of State assure me and the
other north-east MPs who have already spoken that he and the DFT
will continue to look at and work with us on connectivity for our
constituencies?
My hon. Friend will be pleased to know that Darlington is a big
winner out of this package. The improved journey times and
reliability from places such as Durham because of the east coast
main line upgrades will make a big difference. I know that my
hon. Friend is already making significant progress on his
restoring your railway bids, because he has recently had success
on that front.
(Crewe and Nantwich)
(Con)
HS2 is going to be transformative for my Crewe and Nantwich seat,
bringing jobs and investment, so I am delighted that the
Government have today committed to the Crewe-Manchester leg,
which will bring journey times to the airport down to 15 minutes
and journey times into Manchester itself down to less than half
an hour, as well as, of course, freeing up the existing route. In
respect of the leg from Birmingham to Crewe, I saw how important
the passing of legislation was to unlock business confidence and
investment, so will the Secretary of State outline when we can
expect legislation on the Crewe to Manchester leg to pass into
law?
The House will be considering a hybrid Bill for the Crewe to
Manchester section, which is reconfirmed by the integrated rail
plan announced today. The legislation will be introduced early
next year, so it is all systems go.
(North Warwickshire)
(Con)
It is really difficult for me to share the optimism about today’s
announcement, because it is very disappointing to hear that HS2
phase 2b will not be scrapped in full. I know that my
constituents will share that disappointment. We are the most
affected constituency, with phase 1 and now phase 2b, yet we are
not seeing any of the perceived benefits and are already seeing
families, communities and businesses in areas such as Coleshill
and Water Orton devastated. Now that is going to carry on for
many years to come. Will the Secretary of State confirm what
reassessment is being made of the already fragile HS2 business
case, particularly now that it will not extend fully to the north
in the foreseeable future? What benefits does he think today’s
wider announcement will bring for my constituents?
My hon. Friend quite rightly and properly highlights the
challenges; any major building project can have big impacts on
his constituents and others, and that can be too easily forgotten
in debates in the House. I know that the individual business
cases on the different phases of HS2 are being taken forward. The
HS2 Minister has already visited my hon. Friend, and I recommit
today to making sure that we do everything possible with him to
best represent his constituents, because I appreciate that HS2
does not benefit an area just because it cuts through it.
(Bolton West) (Con)
I welcome the integrated rail plan and the wider electrification
project that the Government are pursuing—including the link
between Bolton and Wigan—but my constituents, whether going from
Horwich Parkway or Hag Fold into Manchester, have concerns about
reliability because of a bottleneck in Manchester. What will my
right hon. Friend do to ensure that Manchester improves its
reliability, capacity and connectivity?
The Manchester recovery taskforce, mentioned on page 104 of the
integrated rail plan, is working on that very knotty problem of
what happens in the corridor as we come through and out of
Manchester. It is one thing that this plan seeks to resolve, and
it will help my hon. Friend’s constituents in Bolton to get that
electrification, particularly between Wigan and Bolton, sorted
out as well. There is a lot in here for him to digest and I look
forward to my next visit.
(Isle of Wight) (Con)
I congratulate the Secretary of State and his excellent team on
this far more sensible approach. However, may I respectfully
suggest that the lesson from the HS2 debacle—it is not so much a
turkey as a turkey mixed with a white elephant—is that never
again must a politician’s vanity project, and a New Labour one at
that, be allowed to gather a head of steam? Secondly, is he sure
that the £40 billion on the Birmingham to Crewe route is the best
use of public money, when there would be far more support in this
House for properly funding all the northern powerhouse? Thirdly,
may I gently remind him that the Wessex routes are the most
underfunded and overused in Britain?
I was wondering how the Isle of Wight might benefit from HS2. Of
course it will when my hon. Friend’s constituents cross to the
mainland and want to travel north. With regard to Birmingham to
Crewe, it has already been legislated for, and it received
support from across the House. I do not think that we want to
spend too much time going back into an argument about that on a
day when we are looking at joining-up plans for the north and the
midlands, much as I could be enticed.
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