Raab defends HS2 cuts and claims government ‘delivering best bang for buck’
Transport secretary Grant Shapps has confirmed HS2’s eastern leg – intended to run from Birmingham to Leeds – will be axed as part of the government’s Integrated Rail Plan (IRP), after the prime minister prematurely made the announcement in an article he penned for the Yorkshire Post on Thursday morning.
Delivering the long-delayed review to MPs in the Commons, Mr Shapps said he was “proud” of what the government’s amendments to high speed and Northern Powerhouse railways could achieve for the north of England. He also said a “study [looking at] how best to take HS2 trains into Leeds” has been ordered.
In response, Labour’s shadow transport secretary accused the Tories of “selling out” northern communities and of conducting their own “great train robbery” right underneath MPs and taxpayers’ noses.
“[Mr] Johnson was elected to level the playing fields, to make things better for households across the country,” Jim MacMahon said of the proposed changes. “We were promised a Northern Powerhouse, we were promised a Midlands Engine, to be levelled up. But what we have been given today is a great train robbery.”
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Tory MP expresses anger at plan ‘shortchanging’ Bradford
There isn’t only anger from Labour’s benches. Conservative Robbie Moore says he is “deeply disappointed” by today’s rail announcement as his constituency is one of the most “socially-deprived” parts of the UK.
“The Bradford district has been, in my view, completely shortchanged,” he tells the Commons.
“We are one of the most socially-deprived parts of the UK and we must get better transport connectivity, and I still want to see Northern Powerhouse Rail delivered with a main stop in Bradford, so that we can unlock our economic opportunities.”
Clearly frustrated with the level of ill-feeling to his announcement, Shapps snaps back at Moore: “Let me just make sure he understands and appreciates the full relevance of today.”
He then goes onto repeat that figure of reduced train journeys from Bradford to Leeds. “Twelve-minute journey from Bradford to Leeds, that’s nearly half of the current journey time. Thirty minutes off, at least, off the Bradford to London journey after these upgrades are complete,” he says.
Sam Hancock18 November 2021 12:04
Shapps claims rail plan will benefit local businesses and ‘fire up economies’
Back to Shapps, who claims the IRP will “fire up economies to rival London and the southeast”, and benefit more people than the “outdated vision drawn up for HS2 over a decade ago”.
“By taking a fresh look at HS2 and how it fits with the rest of the rail system, we will be able to build a much improved railway,” he says.
Shapps adds it will “provide similar or better services to almost every destination than the outdated vision drawn up for HS2 over a decade ago”, while repeatedly throwing a figure of reduced train times between Bradford and Leeds around.
“It will be almost halved,” he says more than once.
Sam Hancock18 November 2021 11:58
PM criticised for breaking promise to deliver HS2 ‘in full’
A senior Tory MP is criticising Boris Johnson for “selling perpetual sunlight” and delivering “moonlight” on rail projects for the north.
Huw Merriman, chairman of the transport select committee, says the PM promised 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.
“This is the danger in selling perpetual sunlight and leaving the others to explain the arrival of moonlight,” he tells Grant Shapps,
“Because on a standalone basis, this plan compromises some fantastic projects that will slash journey times and better connect our great northern cities, and for that the transport team deserves much credit.”
Over to the SNP’s transport spokesman, Gavin Newlands, now. “I do admire the secretary of state’s chutzpah for the most bullish U-turn I’ve yet seen in this place.
“He talks about Beeching reversals but this is nothing but an HS2 reversal.”
Sam Hancock18 November 2021 11:52
Shapps claims IRP benefits ‘smallest places’ in country ‘not just largest
Back to Shapps, who says the IRP “delivers not just for our largest cities but also for smaller places and towns”, and that work will start by Christmas.
He says “today’s plan is about those places which connect and interact with HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail”.
“After decades of decline, with constrained capacity, and poor reliability, finally this plan will give passengers and the north and the Midlands the service they need and they deserve. It’s not just about infrastructure, we’re going to make train travel much easier as well,” Shapps goes on.
“This is a landmark plan. By far the biggest of any network improvement and focused on the north and midlands. With more seats, more frequent services, shorter journeys, it meets the needs of today’s passengers and future generations, and we’re getting started immediately.”
Sam Hancock18 November 2021 11:49
Labour brands rail cuts ‘great train robbery’ by Tories
Jim MacMahon is up now, responding to Shapps.
The shadow transport secretary says he is “speechless” by Shapps’ assertion he is “proud” of the changes to HS2 and the Northern Powerhouse rail line.
“Proud of what?” MacMahon scoffs. “Of breaking promises? Of selling the north of England out?”
He goes on to ask why the government is skirting around saying what their changes really are: “a great train robbery”.
MacMahon also calls out the Conservatives for claiming to pledge £94bn of investment into northern rail lines, which he says is in fact made up of £40bn already committed to improving services from London to Crewe.
Sam Hancock18 November 2021 11:25
Shapps confirms HS2 will not run to Leeds
Kicking off his address to the Commons with immediate laughs from opposition MPs, Grant Shapps has confirmed the eastern leg of HS2 – from Birmingham to Leeds – will no longer be built.
Government will instead “study how best to take HS2 trains into Leeds as well. We’ll start work on the new West Yorkshire mass transit system, righting the wrong of this major city, probably the largest in Europe which doesn’t have a mass transit system,” he says.
MPs on other benches broke into laughter as Mr Shapps repeatedly tried to insist changes to the Integrated Rail Plan (IRP) were of benefit to the public and the northern regions affected.
“Perhaps they can suggest why their constituents would want to wait decades” for something different, the transport secretary told jeering Labour and SNP politicians.
The Tories are attempting to spin the changes to HS2 as a form of changed investment.
Sam Hancock18 November 2021 11:18
Shapps to announce Integrated Rail Plan at 11am
Grant Shapps will appear in the House of Commons at around 11am, to deliver the government’s long-delayed and recently updated HS2 and northern rail plans.
The transport secretary is expected to confirm that the eastern leg of HS2, from the East Midlands to Leeds, will be cancelled – much to the dismay of northern Tory and Labour MPs from across the country.
Sam Hancock18 November 2021 10:52
Sleaze reforms could place cap on MPs’ second job earnings, says government
More on sleaze now. The planned crack down on second jobs undertaken by MPs could see limits imposed on the amount they can earn outside parliament, according to a senior cabinet minister.
Deputy PM Dominic Raab said the government’s vague plan to restrict second jobs “within reasonable limits” – passed in the Commons on Wednesday night – could still see a cap place on earnings.
“You could do it in one of two ways,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. “You could do it by the amount earned. Or you could do it by the number of hours. We’ve asked the committee on standards to work up with the detail by January.”
It contradicts what Mr Raab’s cabinet colleague Anne-Marie Trevelyan said on Wednesday, when the trade secretary said ministers were focused on limiting the number of hours MPs spend on second jobs, reports Adam Forrest.
Sam Hancock18 November 2021 10:45
PM told to ‘urgently’ address public perception of Tories amid sleaze row
Boris Johnson is facing warnings from his own MPs that he urgently needs to rebuild public trust after admitting he “crashed the car into a ditch” in the row over standards at Westminster, which saw the PM attempt to save his friend Owen Paterson from being suspended for breaching paid lobbying rules.
Earlier, justice secretary Dominic Raab insisted ministers are committed to “fixing the problem” amid continuing frustration and anger among Tory MPs at the damage that has been inflicted over the past weeks.
At a private meeting of the Conservative backbench 1922 committee on Wednesday, Mr Johnson took responsibility for the Paterson scandal. “On a clear day I crashed the car into a ditch. I will get the car out of the ditch,” the PM is reported to have told the gathering.
Asked on Sky News about discontent within the party, Mr Raab played down rumours of in-party division, saying there is always “one or other disgruntled individual” who is prepared to complain anonymously in the media.
However, the dozens of Tory MPs who failed to turn up to a Commons vote for proposals on MPs’ second jobs – tabled by Mr Johnson – appears to suggest there is some anger at the leadership following weeks of bad press for the party.
Just 297 MPs – fewer than half the total – voted for the motion, with opposition parties abstaining. Four Tory MPs even voted for a rival Labour motion, which would have imposed a clear parliamentary timetable for implementing reform.
Sam Hancock18 November 2021 10:29
Dorries continues to defend tweet attacking BBC’s Kuenssberg
On the subject of MPs using Twitter to express their, perhaps controversial, views, the culture secretary is still receiving flack for attacking a BBC journalist on the social media website.
Nadine Dorries yesterday responded to a post by the broadcaster’s political editor, Laura Kuenssberg, insisting she was “ridiculous” for publishing lines from an unnamed source about the state of Boris Johnson in last night’s 1922 committee meeting.
The Tory MP deleted the tweet last night but not before political commentators, including the Daily Mirror’s Kevin Maguire, screenshotted it.
Here’s what happened, and what Ms Dorries has said since, courtesy of PoliticsHome’s Adam Payne.
Sam Hancock18 November 2021 10:09