Tory MPs in the North will come under pressure to vote against the Government's Integrated Rail Plan after the proposals were branded 'cheap and nasty' by the Liverpool City Region Mayor.
Labour will use an Opposition Day debate, tomorrow, December 8, to force a vote on the controversial vision for the North's railways, which includes scaled-back plans for the high speed HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) projects.
The Integrated Rail Plan (IRP) saw a proposed new high speed line between Liverpool, Leeds and Manchester dropped, with the Government's plan based partly on existing TransPennine route track.
Northern leaders' preferred option for the first stage of NPR - a new line from Liverpool and Manchester to Leeds, via Bradford - was not taken up by the Government in the document, which said it constituted ‘low to poor value for money’.
It instead went for just 40 miles of new line from Warrington to Marsden in West Yorkshire, a move that is £18bn cheaper and will not be delivered until the 2040s.
In practice, that means journey times from Liverpool to Manchester will remain similar to what they currently are.
To accommodate new services the Department for Transport has said Lime Street could be "enhanced", but the IRP makes clear that any plans for a new city centre station - favoured by Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram - "would need to be locally funded". The mayor branded the plans 'cheap and nasty'.
The HS2 high speed rail route's Eastern leg will no longer reach Leeds and will instead go only as far as the East Midlands before running on upgraded track into Yorkshire, though the Western leg connecting Crewe and Manchester will still go ahead.
In a blow to North East leaders, the plan also rejects proposals to reopen the Leamside line between Pelaw in Gateshead and Tursdale in County Durham as well as the electrification of the Hull to Selby line.
'Cheap and nasty' government rail plan will 'hold Liverpool City Region back'
It came after Northern news titles including the Liverpool Echo banded together to demand ministers keep to their many promises on rail investment in this part of the country in Reach's Choose the North campaign.
Labour is using one of its 20 opposition day debates to urge the Prime Minister to "deliver, in full, the infrastructure that was promised to the North at the last election, including Northern Powerhouse Rail as well as the new high-speed line beyond Nottingham".
There will be a non-binding vote on the motion and the Government has the option of tabling an amendment to be voted on.
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Government Ministers have defended the plan, saying it "delivers the same, similar or better journey times almost everywhere" as the original proposals but can be delivered much sooner.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps told MPs that journey times from Leeds to Manchester and Bradford would be slashed under the new £96bn proposals, with much quicker connections between a host of cities in the North and Midlands.
Labour says Northern Powerhouse Rail was committed to more than 60 times by successive Tory Governments and was in three consecutive Conservative Party manifestos.
And it says the scrapping of the HS2 Eastern Leg between Nottingham and Leeds will have a devastating effect on connectivity and connection times.
Conservative MPs such as Shipley's Philip Davies and Thirsk and Malton's Kevin Hollinrake have expressed their disappointment at Bradford missing out on a new station.
Labour's Shadow Transport Secretary Louise Haigh MP said: “Northern communities are, once again, paying the price for broken Tory promises on rail.
“This great rail betrayal will hit millions of people and leave the north in the slow lane for decades to come.
“Promises made must be kept, and today MPs have a chance to stand up for their communities and vote for the infrastructure they stood for election on.”
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