MPs cast doubt on £45bn Northern Powerhouse Rail
During a hearing in the House of Commons, transport secretary Heidi Alexander revealed plans for NPR are to be designed in full before any contracts are tendered and declared ‘railways are not built overnight’, as opposition ministers questioned the scheme’s funding and timelines.
Setting the scene
In a session that was focused on extending the High Speed Rail (Crewe – Manchester) Bill to provide a legislative option for NPR, a number of MPs raised concerns with the £45bn cap and the £1.1bn pledged for this spending review.
In short, a formal Bill was created to progress Phase 2 of HS2 between Crewe and Manchester. That scheme was cancelled but the bones of the Bill remain in place, and the government intends to adapt it to provide powers for delivering newly suggested NPR projects around Manchester.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set out the government’s vision for the long-promised rail project to boost east-west links across the North of England last month.
The government has allocated £1.1bn during the current Spending Review period to support planning, development and design work to enable the preparation of a detailed delivery programme, including construction sequencing and timelines, with a total funding cap of £45bn for the full NPR programme.
Not enough funding, appeasing Northern Mayors, and when contracts will be procured
Shadow minister for transport Jerome Mayhew shared his concerns about the budget, saying: “Real progress has been kicked down the road, perhaps because the Secretary of State knows that she does not have the money to do what she has promised.
“His Majesty’s Treasury has capped Northern Powerhouse Rail at £45bn, yet that was the claimed cost back in 2019.
“That was before Covid, since when, as we all know, costs have soared.
“She knows that she does not have the money, so she distracts her back-benchers with castle-in-the-air planning, with the taxpayer picking up the bill… We are none the wiser as to how the Government expect to fill the gap.”
Conservative MP for Tatton in Cheshire, Esther McVey, echoed doubts about the cost of the scheme: “According to the secretary of state’s announcement, the money being put forward was, I think, £1.1bn out of a £45bn cost, which was to be delivered in decades to come, when the secretary of state and her government will no longer be around – hence, it is a charade to keep the Mayors of the north happy at the local elections.”
Mayhew also alluded to this when he said: “It would have been better for the public to have had such clarity nearly three weeks ago than the spectacle of the Secretary of State signing bits of paper on her rail tour of Northern cities.”
In response, Alexander said that lessons would be learned from HS2, with one of the main points being that full design work will be completed before NPR contracts are procured.
She said: “The money we allocated in the Spending Review is to acquire land and do preparatory works on the Yorkshire schemes – those three corridors improving links into Leeds from Bradford, York, and Sheffield, as well as to plan properly…
“We will not be making the same mistakes as the previous Government – we will not be letting contracts when we have not defined the scope of works…
“We have been clear that we expect work to start on the Yorkshire package of improvements in this Parliament.
“We have also said that we expect work to start on the link between Manchester and Liverpool in the 2030s…
“Crossrail in London was granted consent back in 2007 and the line was opened in 2022 – I make that 15 years. Railways are not built overnight.”
Let’s hope, for everyone travelling in the North, that they get built at all.
…and so it begins. In 25 years time ( the time it takes to get major infrastructure proposed , approved and built).. we may get a watered down version of whose ever grand dream this was. Such is the state of the nation.
By Brunel
Another pile of nothing from this government. Everything they announce they renege on, or delay with excuses. U-Turn if you want to.
By Elephant
Meanwhile London will get an underground extension, new stations, new Thames crossing and another cross-rail line.
By GetItBuilt!
The biggest threats to this scheme is our rightly ambitious mayor adding in expensive scope (e.g. underground) without agreeing to pay for it. It will be too easy for a future government to cancel – Reform has already said so. The only reason London got Crossrail was because it paid for two thirds of the scheme, as well as the £bns of cost overruns. We will need to be prepared to do the same. Also worth remembering that Crossrail’s first iteration was proposed in the 1940s, so prepare yourself the long haul! Unfortunately our democratic system is the enemy of big infrastructure.
By Mancunian
Given the debacle that is HS2 and the lack of NPR progress under the last tory government I’m amazed that conservative MPs have the cheek to be critical of the current plans. Reform, who are against any investment in the north of England, have already said they will cancel this project and the tories have proven to be useless at managing infrastructure projects our only hope is that this Government will come through and make this happen.
By Anonymous
The government says it will fully design Northern Powerhouse Rail before buying anything this time, because, apparently, “railways are not built overnight? Or has some Consultant said if you fully design and cost a project you will know what it costs – which is code for if it does not go ahead, I get paid. For once there is an element of financial management as MPs questioned how a 2019 – £45bn price tag magically still applies in 2026, especially with only £1.1bn on the table. Critics have called the plan little more than pre election fairy dust for northern leaders. Ministers insisted lessons from HS2 will prevent repeat mistakes, with Yorkshire works “this Parliament” and Manchester–Liverpool upgrades pushed to the 2030s. So ends another chapter in the North’s long wait for trains that may, or may not, ever arrive.
These guys are witless sound bite clowns.
By Steve5839