Sir Keir Starmer says he is ‘absolutely committed’ to Northern Powerhouse Rail

Sir Keir Starmer has said he is ” absolutely committed” to Northern Powerhouse Rail.

Speaking amid concerns over delays to the project, the Prime Minister said that work is being done on the timings and costings of services that go through the East Midlands.

He told ITV Calendar: “I’m absolutely committed to Northern Powerhouse Rail.
“That commitment remains. I want to get it right.

“And, we saw with HS2 what happens when a government doesn’t take time to get it right.

“So this is about taking the time to get this right.

“It’s not deviating from the commitment.

“And of course, we’ve already put £3.5 billion into the upgrade of the existing line.

“But the commitment remains.”

He added: “That commitment has to come with an absolute iron determination that we will get this right, because we can all say the mess that was made of HS2 by the last government.

“I’m not prepared to let that happen in relation to Northern Powerhouse Rail.

“We’re consulting, as you would expect, with representatives in the region about that.”

Plans to revive Northern Powerhouse Rail will be unveiled in the coming weeks, Government sources have said.

The upcoming announcement is expected to set out the scope and funding for the scheme aimed at cutting travel time between cities in northern England.

Sir Keir also told BBC East Midlands:  “We do have plans to electrify it.

“We’ve got to get that in the right order and it is really important.

“We’ve got to  get it right, got to get the timing right, but we’re committed to doing it.”

He added: “We’re working through the costings, and we want to do this as quickly as possible. It is important.

“I do understand that that movement on the line is hugely important to everybody in the East Midlands.

“And so we need to get on with it as quickly possible, but we need it right.

“What you’ve seen in the past, particularly with railway projects, is the government’s not taking the time to get things right.

“And it ends up in a much worse place, and I don’t want that to happen.”

Chancellor Rachel Reeves said in June that plans for the project would be published within weeks, but no details have emerged to date.

On Wednesday, a Government source said ministers were “taking time to get this right”, was determined to avoid repeating the previous Tory administration’s “failures over HS2” and that “we will set out our plans in the coming weeks.”

The Northern Powerhouse project was first proposed by former Tory chancellor George Osborne in 2014 before being shelved under Boris Johnson’s administration.

Its aim was to boost economic growth in northern England, including through improved rail services between Liverpool and Leeds, which often suffer delays and cancellations.

When former prime minister Rishi Sunak scrapped HS2 north of Birmingham, some £12 billion of its budget was set aside to improve rail journeys between Manchester and Liverpool as part of NPR.