‘Not much point’ going ahead with Northern Powerhouse Rail, says Grant Shapps

Ministers denies downgrade of rail scheme is blow to ‘levelling up’

Business secretary Grant Shapps has confirmed that the planned Northern Powerhouse Rail link has been downgraded, in a major blow to the government’s “levelling up” programme for the North of England.

The announcement came after Rishi Sunak was warned by the CBI not to undermine growth by cutting capital spending as he struggles to fill a £50 hole in the government’s finances, with reports that he is also reviewing the mooted Sizewell C nuclear power station in Suffolk.

The initial plan for a new high-speed line between Liverpool and Hull was scaled back by former PM Boris Johnson to an upgrade of existing track, with a planned stop at Bradford dropped. But the decision was reversed by Liz Truss, who committed to build the £40bn project in full.

But Mr Shapps today said that there “wasn’t really much point” in going ahead with the full plan when improvements in capacity and speed could be delivered more quickly by the more limited upgrade.

He told the BBC: “The line itself can deliver a 33-minute journey from Manchester to Leeds, quadruple nearly the capacity of that line, and do so without having to wait an extra 20 years beyond the delivery of what the upgrade can do.

“There wasn’t really much point in going and blasting new tunnels through the Pennines.”

The chief executive of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, Henri Murison, said earlier this week that reverting to Mr Johnson’s Integrated Rail Plan would be “a serious setback for levelling up”.

“It means they’re still falling short of the ambition in the 2019 manifesto on which they were elected,” he said.

“It raises serious questions about their plans for growth, given that the North’s woeful transport infrastructure continues to weigh down our economy and hold back private investment.”

But Mr Shapps insisted: “It’s not true to say we’re not delivering on what we said we would do on levelling up the north.”