Labour HS2 and rail pledges
Promising the long-awaited Leeds Tram, a new Bradford rail station, improved transpennine rail, and a bucket load of road schemes is clever politics, whatever the economics, or likelihood of delivery. Anyone campaigning for HS2 now has to explain why the North (and lots of individual constituencies that got nothing much directly from HS2) can’t or shouldn’t have these goodies.
So will the plans survive a change of government to the Labour Party who – if opinion polls are any guide – will be in charge by about this time next year? Liverpool City Council Leader and Liverpool City Region transport portfolio holder Cllr Liam Robinson seemed a good person to ask.
Speaking before yesterday’s announcement by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, Robinson told Subplot: “Liverpool needs both HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail. We want to see a strong network for the North….this is not just about faster journey times, it’s about capacity, particularly for freight.” He took comfort from pledges by Labour shadow minister Nick Thomas-Symonds to build the whole of HS2, including the Manchester and axed Leeds legs.
But Thomas-Symonds is not shadow transport minister (he shadows the cabinet office). Two other frontbenchers have declined to repeat the pledge and the transport team led by Sheffield MP Louise Haigh has been circumspect. Haigh’s tweets in response to yesterday’s Sunak speech were full of indignation but conspicuously failed to pledge to reverse his decision.
Subplot approached Haigh’s team for clarification. Subplot also contacted Robinson asking if he’d be prepared to talk to government about its Network North offer. Replies were awaited as Subplot shipped, but we’ll report back.
In the meantime, a quick unscientific canvas of political big brains suggests Labour will argue loudly that Sunak’s plan is all jam tomorrow, and his promises are not to be trusted, but with less fanfare will probably swallow the £36bn Network North proposals in whole or in part. In which case HS2 really is caput.
So this report seems to indicate that Smarmer and Co will accept the plan and play the blame game with the Cuckservatives.