Northern UK MPs Angered as High-Speed Rail Link to Leeds Delayed

Completing the HS2 high-speed rail link from London to Birmingham, Manchester, and Leeds was written into the Conservative's 2019 election manifesto along with other promises to "level-up" economically-neglected northern regions of the country.

MPs for north-eastern seats have reacted angrily after the government shelved the planned high-speed rail line from Birmingham to Leeds.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced in Parliament on Thursday morning that the eastern leg of the HS2 line would only be completed as far as Nottingham in the East Midlands.

And he said the Northern Powerhouse Rail link between Leeds and Manchester — and on to York to the east and Liverpool to the west — would be scaled back, with a new line to pass directly through Bradford scrapped in favour of upgrading the existing branch line.

But the minister insisted that neither project was off the table, with £23 billion to be invested in the trans-Pennine route along with other new developments to benefit Yorkshire and the north-east "much sooner than under the previous plans".

"We'll upgrade the East Coast Main Line with a package of investments on track improvement and digital signalling, bringing down journey times between London, Leeds, Darlington, Newcastle and Edinburgh", Shapps said.

"And we'll start work on the new West Yorkshire Mass Transit System, righting the wrong of this major city, possibly the largest in Europe which doesn't have a mass transit system".

"110 miles of new high-speed line, all of it in the Midlands and the North. It's 180 miles of newly electrified line, all of it in the Midlands and the North"

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps adds "we'll study how best to take HS2 trains into Leeds" https://t.co/OlIYXeNnIk pic.twitter.com/W4VhhfOTXL

— BBC Politics (@BBCPolitics) November 18, 2021

Opposition Labour Party shadow transport secretary Jim McMahon, whose seat of Oldham in Greater Manchester will still benefit from the western leg of HS2, dubbed the change of plan the "great train robbery".

"He promised the North would not be forgotten. He hasn't just forgotten us he's completely sold us out!" McMahon charged, saying most of the £96 billion investment Shapps promised was not "new money" and just "crumbs off the table."

Leeds Central MP Hilary Benn said Prime Minister Boris Johnson had "betrayed" the city and the north.

The Prime Minister repeatedly pledged that HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail would be built in full. Today that promise has been broken. Leeds and the North have been betrayed. https://t.co/A67Xn6GAMy

— Hilary Benn (@hilarybennmp) November 18, 2021

Kate Osborne, the Labour MP for Jarrow on Tyneside, was one of many of her party-mates tweeting the same meme attacking the Tories.

More broken promises from this Tory government. 🤔 pic.twitter.com/WjRZaaU0LA

— Kate Osborne MP 💙🌈 (@KateOsborneMP) November 18, 2021

Johnson later dismissed Channel 4 News anchor Krishnan Guru-Murthy's accusation that his government was "derailing levelling-up" by cutting back on HS2.

"You're talking total rubbish," the PM replied. "This is the biggest investment in rail in the history of the country, or at least for a hundred years, and it's a fantastic thing".

PM Boris Johnson says claims he is 'derailing levelling up' are "total rubbish", describing his new Integrated Rail Plan as the 'biggest investment in rail and a fantastic thing'.

Read more here: https://t.co/wtpjUJm9jR pic.twitter.com/9fVWBlXDqZ

— Sky News (@SkyNews) November 18, 2021

But even Conservative MP for Keighley in the Leeds-Bradford conurbation said he was disappointed by the decision.

Robbie Moore, Tory MP for Keighley, says he is 'deeply disappointed' by the decision to drop new high speed line across the Pennines. Grant Shapps replies that he may not have fully understood the full benefits of the new plan

— Jason Groves (@JasonGroves1) November 18, 2021

The HS2 project has drawn protests from locals along its proposed route along with environmentalists — ironically given that it would could make rail travel more attractive and competitive than driving or flying.