‘We gave Labour £17bn for Manchester to Liverpool rail line – they must build it’ ...Middle East

Pressure is mounting on Labour to approve funding for a new rail line in the north using money saved by axing HS2 as the former Tory rail minister says the £17bn needed is already “signed off”.

Huw Merriman, rail minister between 2022 and 2024, said the Conservatives had already approved the funding for a new railway between Liverpool and Manchester when the decision was taken to scrap the northern leg of HS2 in 2023 under Rishi Sunak.

Labour ministers have since refused to recommit to the figure, claiming the Conservatives had made a large number of unfunded infrastructure promises which had not been signed off by the Treasury.

Merriman, who is chairing an expert board on how best to deliver the 50km “LMR line” which is being backed by leaders across the North including Labour’s mayors Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram, accused the Government of not being honest with the public.

In an interview with The i Paper, he said: “I accept the point that, looking at government finances as a whole, things are stretched. But I don’t accept that at the time it [the £17bn funding] was never signed off by the Treasury – it was because it was announced by the Prime Minister.

“As those in government now will know full well, the Prime Minister only makes announcements after they’ve been signed off by the Treasury.”

Sir Keir Starmer has been asked to approve “development funding” for the project at the comprehensive spending review next month.

A number of large rail projects are being considered by the Government, as well as how to get a grip of the first phase of HS2, from London to Birmingham, which continues to suffer delays and escalating costs.

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The matter is further complicated by the fact that legislation for HS2 gives powers to build a section of railway between Cheshire and Manchester – which would be needed for the new LMR line.

Merriman argues that this gives further credibility to his argument that funding has already been agreed and Labour simply needs to extend the promise.

“With HS2 no one said the money won’t be spent on building it, it’s being built, and therefore the money is there, and the money is there for Liverpool-Manchester as well,” he said.

“Whether the new government then decide that’s their priority or not is another matter.”

Lord Hendy, the current rail minister, made remarks to MPs last year that appeared to suggest the Government would not commit to any further large-scale rail projects – such as a replacement for HS2 north of Birmingham – until it was happy the current HS2 project is under control.

Merriman argued that instead, the Government should seek to maximise the investment that is being made in HS2.

“We’re talking about Liverpool to Manchester where there was the world’s first intercity railway, in 2030 it will be its 200th anniversary,” he said.

“We get things done like this in this country and I think it would be a shame for us to close the doors on infrastructure projects, we should be learning the lessons and making sure it never happens again in the same way [as HS2].

“I have every sympathy with the current state of the books, the Government have tough choices to make. But that’s exactly why this railway [the LMR line] is such an attractive proposition on a number of fronts.

“We’re not just saying ‘can you give us loads of money?’ and then we will do exactly what happened with HS2 and it won’t be properly spent.

“I think our point is that we’re not just asking for a cheque, we’re asking to be part of the whole growth mission.

“The interesting parallel with HS2, even for the last two years and the time I was rail minister, all the local authorities and the political leaders on the line of route just did everything they could to try and make it difficult to build it, that puts the price up because it delays it.

“Whereas here you’ve got the leaders, politically across the North West on the line of route and outside it, saying ‘we want this to be delivered’.

“It makes sense to have an east-west rail Oxford to Cambridge and east-west rail Liverpool to Manchester so you’ve got these two corridors of growth, rather than just one for the south and the north misses out again.”

The Government says that transport is an essential part of it’s mission to rebuild Britain and drive economic growth.

“We are currently reviewing the position we have inherited on HS2, and will set out next steps in due course,” a spokersperson said.

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