{"id":408986,"date":"2025-09-08T23:34:17","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T23:34:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/408986\/"},"modified":"2025-09-08T23:34:17","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T23:34:17","slug":"andy-burnham-blasts-creatures-of-the-london-establishment-as-reform-pledges-to-sideline-northern-powerhouse-rail","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/408986\/","title":{"rendered":"Andy Burnham blasts ‘creatures of the London establishment’ as Reform pledges to sideline Northern Powerhouse Rail"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cWe have higher ambitions for the North than them.\u201dAndy Burnham(Image: Joel Goodman)<\/p>\n

A Nigel Farage-led Reform government would scrap new high-speed rail schemes expected to be announced by ministers within weeks, the party\u2019s deputy leader said.<\/p>\n

Richard Tice told companies considering bidding for contracts to build Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) they should \u201cnot bother\u201d as the party would \u201cspend the money instead on things the country needs more\u201d.<\/p>\n

Andy Burnham<\/a>, Mayor of Greater Manchester, said: \u201cMr 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cAcross Europe, every other country connects its big cities by modern high-speed rail but, like the Conservatives<\/a> before them, the Reform party seems to believe that this should be a privilege only conferred on the southern half of the UK.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have higher ambitions for the North than them.\u201d<\/p>\n

NPR is a proposal to boost east-west rail connections across northern England. Labour<\/a> is expected to make a commitment to NPR in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n

Never miss a story with the MEN’s daily Catch Up newsletter – get it in your inbox by signing up here<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

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 \u201ceven greater train crash\u201d than HS2, as a new line between Liverpool and Manchester could cost \u00a330 billion.<\/p>\n

Researchers warned journeys between the cities on this line would take one minute longer than the quickest current services \u2013 which are 34 minutes \u2013 because the new line would serve Manchester airport<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The report proposes alternative schemes, such as \u201can Elizabeth line for the North\u201d, a northern equivalent of the railway between Berkshire and Essex via tunnels under central London. nThis would involve a tunnel under Manchester city centre<\/a>, linking conventional lines serving destinations such as Liverpool, Preston, Bradford, Leeds and Sheffield.<\/p>\n

Policy Exchange claimed the \u201ccrisis in HS2 is even worse than ministers admit\u201d, as the \u201ctrue cost\u201d for the line between London and Birmingham is \u201cup to 22%\u201d higher than the amount \u201cdeclared to Parliament\u201d.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for HS2 Ltd said: \u201cWe 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NigelNigel Farage.(Image: PA Wire\/PA Images)<\/p>\n

Mr Tice linked the \u201cpolitical obsession with high-speed rail\u201d with how politics is \u201cestranged, in so many ways, from ordinary voters\u2019 real wishes and needs\u201d.<\/p>\n

He went on: \u201cWe 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven 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\u2019s problems and price-tag look trivial.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cTo 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is the choice: tens of billions freed to spend on conventional rail and roads that help ordinary folk get to work \u2013 or another two decades of failure and waste.\u201d<\/p>\n

Richard Tice(Image: PA)<\/p>\n

A DfT spokesperson said: \u201cThe North has been stuck with second-rate transport for too long, leaving communities cut off and holding back growth.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Government is delivering the transport infrastructure needed for faster and more reliable journeys to create jobs and deliver stronger growth \u2013 such as the Transpennine Route Upgrade which is already delivering more efficient journeys between Manchester, Huddersfield, Leeds and York.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will set out our ambitions for Northern Powerhouse Rail in the near future.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cWe have higher ambitions for the North than them.\u201dAndy Burnham(Image: Joel Goodman) A Nigel Farage-led Reform government would…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":408987,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[8916,12,384,80438,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-408986","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"category-united-kingdom","9":"tag-andy-burnham","10":"tag-news","11":"tag-nigel-farage","12":"tag-northern-powerhouse","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115171299983022124","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408986","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=408986"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408986\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/408987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}