\n Reform UK says it would scrap Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) if elected, drawing accusations that the leadership is siding with the \u2018London establishment\u2019.<\/p>\n
High-speed rail \u00a9 Clare Louise Jackson \/ Shutterstock.com.
\n Reform UK says it would scrap Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) if elected, drawing accusations that the leadership is siding with the \u2018London establishment\u2019.<\/p>\n
The think tank Policy Exchange has published a new report opposing plans to build a new high-speed rail scheme from Liverpool to Manchester and Leeds.<\/p>\n
It argues journeys on the NPR would take longer than on the existing service and says the Manchester-Liverpool section could cost up to \u00a330bn.<\/p>\n
The report instead proposes a Manchester version of London’s Elizabeth Line that would provide a high-capacity east-west route across central Manchester.<\/p>\n
Writing the Forward to the report, Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice MP compares NPR to the \u2018historic disaster\u2019 of HS2.<\/p>\n
\u2018[T]he voters of the North do not want, and never have wanted, a handful of high-speed rail lines, serving a handful of big cities, at fares only business people on expenses can afford,\u2019 he writes.<\/p>\n
Defending the scheme, Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, accused Tice and Nigel Farage of being \u2018creatures of the London establishment\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u2018Across Europe, every other country connects its big cities by modern high-speed rail but, like the Conservatives before them, the Reform Party seems to believe that this should be a privilege only conferred on the southern half of the UK,\u2019 he said.<\/p>\n
\u2018We have higher ambitions for the North than them and will resist any politician who says people here can be treated as second-class citizens when it comes to transport.\u2019<\/p>\n
To learn more about Reform UK, check out: Reform UK: What Britain\u2019s fastest rising party stands for<\/a> and Reform UK\u2019s \u2018Doge\u2019 witch-hunts will achieve little<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n