Reform pledges to axe Northern Powerhouse Rail

A Reform government would scrap new high-speed rail schemes expected to be announced by ministers within weeks, the party’s deputy leader said.

Richard Tice told companies considering bidding for contracts to build Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) they should “not bother” as the party would “spend the money instead on things the country needs more”.

NPR is a proposal to boost east-west rail connections across northern England.

Labour is expected to make a commitment to NPR in the coming weeks.

Mr Tice made his comments in a forward to a report by centre-right think tank Policy Exchange.

The document predicted NPR would be an “even greater train crash” than HS2, as a new line between Liverpool and Manchester could cost £30 billion.

Researchers warned journeys between the cities on this line would take one minute longer than the quickest current services – which are 34 minutes – because the new line would serve Manchester airport.

The report proposes alternative schemes, such as “an Elizabeth line for the North”, a northern equivalent of the railway between Berkshire and Essex via tunnels under central London.

This would involve a tunnel under Manchester city centre, linking conventional lines serving destinations such as Liverpool, Preston, Bradford, Leeds and Sheffield.

Policy Exchange claimed the “crisis in HS2 is even worse than ministers admit”, as the “true cost” for the line between London and Birmingham is “up to 22%” higher than the amount “declared to Parliament”.

A spokesperson for HS2 Ltd said: “We do not recognise these claims.

“HS2 Ltd is committed to the highest levels of transparency and our accounts are extensively audited by the National Audit Office.”

Mr Tice linked the “political obsession with high-speed rail” with how politics is “estranged, in so many ways, from ordinary voters’ real wishes and needs”.

He went on: “We all know the phrase that the definition of insanity is doing the same thing again and again and expecting different results.

“All of us, it seems, except the Government.

“Even as the historic disaster of HS2 blows through more billions in overspending and more years of delay, even as it sucks money from things the country actually needs, even as taxes on people and business rise, ministers are about to commit to further high-speed rail schemes which could make HS2’s problems and price-tag look trivial.”

He added: “To anyone tempted to bid for the Liverpool-Manchester high speed scheme, or the revived northern leg of HS2, I give this warning: do not bother.

“A Reform government will spend the money instead on things the country needs more.

“That is the choice: tens of billions freed to spend on conventional rail and roads that help ordinary folk get to work – or another two decades of failure and waste.”

A DfT spokesperson said: “The North has been stuck with second-rate transport for too long, leaving communities cut off and holding back growth.

“The Government is delivering the transport infrastructure needed for faster and more reliable journeys to create jobs and deliver stronger growth – such as the Transpennine Route Upgrade which is already delivering more efficient journeys between Manchester, Huddersfield, Leeds and York.

“We will set out our ambitions for Northern Powerhouse Rail in the near future.”

Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, said: “Mr Tice and Mr Farage are both creatures of the London establishment and so I am not surprised in the slightest to hear Reform make the argument for a second-class railway for the north of England.

“Across Europe, every other country connects its big cities by modern high-speed rail but, like the Conservatives before them, the Reform party seems to believe that this should be a privilege only conferred on the southern half of the UK.

“We have higher ambitions for the North than them.”