Labour facing £17bn nightmare over new UK train line using HS2 cash

Labour mayors Andy Burnham and Steve Rotherham are demanding that Keir Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves back their plan for a new £17 billion rail line to give the north transport links as good as London. The new service would run from Liverpool Lime Street to Manchester Piccadilly, with stops at a new Liverpool Gateway station and Manchester Airport.

It would be funded with cash previously earmarked for the northern leg of the HS2 rail line, which had been due to run from Birmingham to Manchester but was cancelled in 2023. Former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had promised better rail services would be built in the north instead and Mr Burnham, the Greater Manchester Mayor, and Mr Rotherham, Mayor of Liverpool City Region, are demanding the current government makes good on the promise. Local council and business leaders also back the plan.

Labour leaders in the north argue that their region is as deserving of investment as London. An £18.9 billion new rail line running from east to west in the capital called the Elizabeth Line, previously known as Crossrail, opened in 2022.

But the proposed rail link, called Liverpool-Manchester Railway or LMR, is also backed by former Conservative transport minister Huw Merriman, who now serves as the project’s chair.

Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, said: “A new Liverpool-Manchester Railway would be shorter than both London’s Elizabeth line and East West Rail connecting Oxford and Cambridge, but would punch well above its weight in both growing the UK’s economy and better connecting our high-growth sectors.

“For too long, such major infrastructure projects in the UK have been delivered in a top-down way. We want to work hand-in-hand with government to plan and deliver this railway from the ground up, enabling us to maintain our growth momentum for Greater Manchester. A new, locally-led delivery model will mean we can build our pipeline of regeneration, new homes, skilled jobs and green growth around the rail line with real certainty.”

Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said: “There’s hardly a person in the North who hasn’t felt the frustration of slow, unreliable journeys or missed out on things because of creaking, outdated infrastructure.”

He said: “We’re putting forward a serious, deliverable plan that does things differently – developing plans at a regional level instead of a top-down approach. Not cap in hand, but shoulder to shoulder with government.”

The LMR line would bring the journey between Manchester Piccadilly and Liverpool Lime Street down to 32 minutes. Construction would deliver an estimated £15 billion boost to the economy and create 22,000 jobs, according to the document.

Analysis by consultancy Metro Dynamics suggested infrastructure investment in the region could boost the UK’s economic output by £90 billion over the next 15 years.

A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “Transport is an essential part of our mission to rebuild Britain and drive economic growth. That’s why we’re investing in the North and Midlands, and delivering transformational projects, such as the multi-billion-pound Transpennine Route Upgrade.

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