(Bloomberg) —
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced an “ambitious and unparalleled” 96 billion-pound ($130 billion) overhaul of the rail system in the Midlands and northern England, drawing criticism that his plans undermined U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s “leveling up” agenda.
Unveiling the plans in Parliament on Thursday, Shapps confirmed the U.K. was scrapping a key element of the HS2 high-speed rail project and also retreated from a promise to build an entire new fast line between Manchester and Leeds in the north. But he said the overall package would “transform” services across the region and deliver improvements up to a decade sooner than promised.
The Integrated Rail Plan is a cornerstone of Johnson’s plans to prove to his new voters in so-called red wall seats — former Labour heartlands in northern England that switched to the Tories in the 2019 general election — that he’s serious about delivering prosperity to all regions of the U.K. The aim is to upgrade local services and speed up journey times and capacity to London and across the north.
But pulling the plug on the eastern leg of HS2 — after the estimated cost of Europe’s biggest infrastructure project spiraled beyond 100 billion pounds ($135 billion) — has angered some local leaders and Conservative politicians in the north.
Read More: Johnson Faces Backlash From Northern England Over Rail Plans
There was also fury over an east-west route including the link from Leeds to Manchester only getting a new high-speed line part of the way, with upgrades to older track required to complete the trip. The opposition Labour Party’s spokesman on transport, Jim McMahon, accused Shapps of having sold northern communities out.
“There’s no amount of gloss, no amount of spin that can be put on this,” he said in the House of Commons. “What we’ve been given today is a great train robbery.”
Huw Merriman, a Conservative member of Parliament who chairs the House of Commons Transport Committee, warned that residents of some northern towns may feel short-changed by the plans.
“The prime minister promised that HS2 and northern powerhouse rail was not an either/or option and those in Leeds and Bradford may be forgiven for viewing it today as neither,” Merriman said. “This is the danger in selling perpetual sunlight and then leaving it to others to explain the arrival of moonlight.”
(Updates with Grant Shapps announcement from paragraph one.)
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