PM 'remains committed' to Northern Powerhouse Rail

The prime minister has said his government "remains committed" to Northern Powerhouse Rail amid recent uncertainty over the major infrastructure project.

It comes after plans to extend high-speed rail across the north of England were delayed further, which the BBC understands was due to concerns over long-term costs.

Sir Keir Starmer said he wanted to "get it right" following the scrapping of HS2's northern phases.

"While I do understand the frustration, I think that anyone who looks at the mess the last government made of HS2 would say getting it right matters rather than taking decisions that unravel like HS2," he added.

Northern Powerhouse Rail aims to cut journey times between northern towns and cities, including those in Yorkshire.

It would include infrastructure upgrades and new lines but is a plan that numerous politicians have failed to deliver.

The prime minister said £3.5bn had been invested into the upgrade of the existing line, which was announced in the last budget.

On losing ground to Reform in Yorkshire, Starmer said people needed to decide whether they wanted the "toxic divide" that he says that party offers.

"You can have patriotic national renewal with Labour – or the politics of grievance which is Reform – where they want to trade on the problems not fix the problems because if we were to fix the problems their whole reason to exist dies away," he said.

"We need to make our argument about what we're doing, also we need to remind people what we have done.

'Making progress'

Meanwhile, Starmer said while "millions of people voted for change" at last year's general election, he understood people's "frustration" at the time it took for that change to be take place.

"It takes time to unpick 14 years of failure," he said.

"The economy was badly damaged, public services were on their knees. We're making progress on that.

"We've delivered five million extra appointments for the NHS; we're rolling out childcare for those between nine months and four years; we're striking trade deals and getting investment in."

However, Starmer said ahead of the local elections next May, "we need to make our argument about what we're doing".

"We also need to remind people what we have done: waiting lists are coming down, confidence in the NHS is going up.

"There's more to do, I accept that - bringing in the Hillsborough Law to deal with injustices, and trade deals which benefit all parts of the country."

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