Is Network North levelling up in action or more Tory distraction?
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has announced a brand new transport scheme for the North of England, known as Network North. The announcement was made on Wednesday 4th at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester, and follows the cancellation of the Northern leg of HS2, intended to connect Birmingham and Manchester with high-speed rail.
The Leeds line was scrapped back in November 2021.
The purpose of HS2, as part of the wider Levelling Up scheme across the UK, was to create more opportunity in cities outside of London and boost regional productivity. Furthermore, many hoped that such a large infrastructure project would reinvigorate the stagnant UK economy; more than 30,000 jobs have already been provided by HS2. Speaking to The Civil Engineer, the Civil Engineering Contractors’ Association (CECA) stated that “without commitment to fast tracking [the Network North projects] and getting boots on the ground in the immediate future, they will have little impact on the UK’s economic recovery and future prosperity.”
In an official statement on the Government website, Sunak claims that “every penny” of the £36 billion intended for HS2 will be reinvested into the Midlands and the North, providing for a new programme of transport improvements that will benefit “far more people, in far more places, far quicker.”
Of that total, £19.8 billion has been pledged specifically to the North, “on things like connecting its major cities”, according to Sunak. Railways connecting Leeds to cities like Hull and Sheffield are also set to be upgraded, reducing travel times.
The most notable feature for Leeds residents is the new “fully funded £2.5 billion West Yorkshire mass-transit system, giving the region better connections to Bradford and Wakefield” that has been proposed.
Leeds is renowned for being the largest major city in Western Europe without any kind of mass public transport network.
There have been ongoing plans for a West Yorkshire transit system for some years, part of West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin’s “plans for West Yorkshire to become a net-zero carbon economy by 2038”, reports the Yorkshire Evening Post.
Plans for a Leeds-based tram system were originally proposed in 1991, more than three decades ago. The Leeds Supertram, a second iteration, gained provisional government approval in 2001, before being scrapped in 2005 due to concerns over rising costs.
Brabin herself described the scrapping of the Northern leg as “yet another betrayal of the North” in an official statement posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. In an interview with Channel 4, she voiced doubts about the proposed Leeds transit system, highlighting that there are, as yet, “no timeframes for the money” and citing previous Government rollbacks: “we’ve been promised so much by Conservative government [that has]… been pulled”, referencing the Northern Powerhouse Rail scheme.
Northern Powerhouse Rail, sometimes nicknamed HS3, was proposed in 2014 and was intended to connect Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds by high speed rail. However, the project was significantly watered down in 2021 under Boris Johnson.
Brabin’s reservations gained credence after the Government withdrew its commitment to reopening the disused Leamside railway line in the North-East just 24 hours after the announcement. The reopening of the Leamside line was one of the Government’s “key transport pledges”, according to LBC.
Asked about the proposed Network North projects, Secretary-General of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) Mick Lynch said this in an interview with PoliticsJOE, at the Labour Party Conference on Sunday 8th: “I don’t think any of that’s going to happen. [The Government] didn’t even consult Network Rail about how it’s going to work. They’re now saying that all the money is not there.”
As of yet, the Government has not announced when these projects will be initiated, or when the funds will be delivered to their respective regions.
The question, then, is whether Network North is a genuine, long-term scheme to bring efficiency and prosperity to a Northern transport system that has been neglected for decades, or, as Mayor Brabin puts it, “pure electioneering” for a Conservative party struggling in the polls with a general election looming on the horizon.
