Transport Connectivity: North-west England

Wednesday 19th March 2025 Westminster Hall

09:30

[Jo Platt (Leigh and Atherton) (Lab/Co-op)]

I beg to move,

That this House has considered improving transport connectivity in the North West.

It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Ms McVey. I am delighted to see so many Members here today. The issue at hand affects many constituencies in the north-west, including mine. Leigh and Atherton, once a beacon of industrial activity, lies between the great cities of Manchester and Liverpool. With our main source of industry gone, we are now part of a commuter belt, alongside constituencies such as those in St Helens, Warrington, Wigan and Salford. Our road networks, originally designed around mills and factories, now struggle to cope with the ever increasing volume of traffic, and I know the same is true in our neighbouring regions of Merseyside, Cheshire, Lancashire and Cumbria.

A lack of connectivity in one place affects another. Congestion that starts in Leigh does not just disappear when crossing a border; it blocks the roads of our nearest neighbours. The rush-hour struggle to connect to our motorway or city networks means that the A580 East Lancs Road is a source of constant annoyance for many. When my constituents are asked about public transport, they say that, without a rail or Metrolink connection in the centre of Leigh, buses are stuck in the same traffic—it is all part of the increasing frustration.

The lack of efficient transport links is a key barrier to growth. Leigh ranks in the top 1% of the country for transport-related social exclusion, meaning that people are unable to participate in routine, everyday activities because of a lack of viable travel options. A 2024 Transport for the North report highlighted that people in the north-west with access to a car can reach nearly six times as many jobs as those who rely on public transport. Poor connectivity, limited infrastructure and an overreliance on cars leads to high levels of social isolation.

[Jim Shannon (Strangford) (DUP)]

I thank the hon. Lady for securing a debate on this important issue, and I welcome her back to the House and wish her well. She is outlining the issues in the north-west. Does she agree that social isolation in rural areas in particular is exacerbated by infrequent, costly public transport, and if we in this United Kingdom are serious about addressing mental health concerns in our rural communities, we need to bring them out of isolation, physically as well as mentally?

[Jo Platt]

Yes, I do agree, particularly for those who are vulnerable due to age, poverty or disability, as this will have a hugely negative impact on their life chances.

This stark disparity underlines the need for better transport systems and new road networks—ones that boost economic productivity and ensure fairness and opportunity for all. Without the necessary infrastructure, these benefits will remain out of reach for far too many. The narrative often goes that people must leave to succeed, and I am determined to change that story.

We are a proud community, but we are often overlooked when it comes to investment. Growth goes where the growth already is, which stifles the potential for outside business investment and growth for existing businesses. Despite the many positives that Leigh and Atherton has to offer, we still see many young people with great potential leaving to seek opportunities elsewhere.

It can take over an hour and 40 minutes to travel the 18 miles from Leigh to Manchester airport by public transport, while a car journey takes only 30 minutes, if we are lucky—that is not in rush hour. This huge difference cannot be overlooked, especially given the economic and employment opportunities offered by Manchester airport, which provides thousands of jobs to the region. Many of my constituents are missing out on those opportunities due to poor transport links, or have no other option than to use their cars, which obviously does not help with emissions.

It is not just a matter of growth and job opportunities either. After speaking to our borough-wide police force, I discovered that response times in the Wigan borough are slower than in other Greater Manchester areas, and this is due to congestion. Our local health trust, operating sites in Wigan and Leigh, routinely factors in an hour’s travel time for consultants and staff moving between sites—it all adds up.

This is an injustice we must rectify. I am grateful to Wigan council for recognising the issue and its commitment to improving the situation. That aligns with the Government’s broader ambitions on education, skills, growth and revitalisation. Ideas for strengthening our higher education offer are met with questions about how students from the wider region will get there. And when Manchester United’s women’s team play at home, the challenge is how to get fans to the game at the wonderful Leigh sports village.

We have an issue, and we need more train and Metrolink routes in our region. Specifically, it is time to make the case for a Metrolink connection to Leigh. For our wider region, we need improved train frequency, better station accessibility, increased capacity at station car parks, and expanded park and ride facilities for key transport routes. I am sure other hon. Members will speak on those matters.

It is not all doom and gloom. The Mayor of Greater Manchester has done much to improve connectivity across the city region, including Leigh’s famous guided busway: the V1 in Leigh and the V2 in Atherton. Those services have been incredibly successful, with usage exceeding expectations. With the commitment of a £2 bus fare cap, people are using our Bee network more than ever. The next step is to fully integrate towns like Leigh into Greater Manchester’s transport system, making it easier for people to travel seamlessly across the region and unlocking the growth potential of the north-west.

The 2024 boundary changes brought two train stations into my constituency—Atherton and Hag Fold—which is a positive step forward. In addition, the Government’s recent announcement of the reopening of Golborne station brings much-needed investment into the area. I thank Andy Burnham—the Mayor of Greater Manchester —Transport for Greater Manchester, Wigan council and our local councillors for their continued work to make that campaign a reality.

I am also thrilled by the Government’s recent announcement that Leigh is one of the 75 places eligible for the plan for neighbourhoods, benefiting from £20 million-worth of funding over the next 10 years. With that funding, we have an opportunity to build on our strengths and unlock the potential of our high street. However, it is important to note that Leigh remains one of the largest towns in the country without a metro or train connection. This clear gap in our infrastructure must be addressed.

We must focus on linking not just Greater Manchester but Merseyside, Lancashire, Cheshire and Cumbria, and all the towns in between, including in my constituency. Those often overlooked towns, rural or coastal, are vital to the region’s growth and success. A strategic cross-boundary approach is essential if we are to grow a region that benefits everyone.

Will the Minister support us in that approach? Will he work with me to make the case for Metrolink in Leigh, as part of a connected transport system that benefits not only Leigh but my nearest neighbours? It is vital to focus on a strategic approach to managing connectivity in the north-west, connecting those areas to growth. Only then can we all thrive and fully participate in the region’s growth and prosperity.

[Several hon. Members rose—]

[Esther McVey (in the Chair)]

A lot of Members want to speak, and I want to accommodate everybody. The Opposition spokespeople have agreed to five minutes each, but the Minister will take the full 10 minutes. That will give everybody else four minutes.

09:39

[Lisa Smart (Hazel Grove) (LD)]

It is a pleasure to have you in the Chair, Ms McVey. I congratulate the hon. Member for Leigh and Atherton (Jo Platt) on securing a debate on this important topic for our constituents. Transport connectivity is about economic growth and opening up the world so that our constituents can make choices about their lives that allow them to fulfil their potential.

Reliable, affordable and accessible public transport is not just a convenience; it is an essential pillar of our economy, our communities and our future. Yet for too long the north-west has suffered from under-investment, unreliable rail services and disconnected transport networks that leave too many of our constituents struggling to get to work, school or essential services. That is why I am asking the Government for three things today. First, we need more frequent and reliable rail services with simple, affordable fares that encourage people back on to our trains. Secondly, I urge the Government to work with Stockport council and the Greater Manchester combined authority to bring Metrolink or tram-trains to my constituency. Thirdly, the Government need to make public transport the default for my constituents by expanding current bus and rail connections.

Many in my community and in the surrounding areas of Greater Manchester and beyond will remember the absolute chaos towards the end of last year when, almost every day, commuters on Northern-operated trains saw swathes of red cancellation notices. I received dozens of emails from constituents talking about how they could not rely on the trains to get to work or to pick up their children from school. Some even told me that they had to reject job offers because the trains were just too unreliable.

Since the pandemic, constituents commuting on the Rose Hill to Manchester Piccadilly line have faced an irregular timetable, and passenger numbers across the north-west have struggled to recover to pre-pandemic levels. I welcome the plan to integrate our trains, trams and buses, and I look forward to the streamlining of ticketing this will offer. However, it would be remiss of me not to mention that Metrolink does not yet extend into any part of Stockport. Our brilliant new interchange is Metrolink-ready, but we have no indication of when Metrolink will be ready for Stockport. We have even less idea of whether Metrolink or tram-trains will eventually reach into the towns and villages of my constituency.

Many of my residents have to rely on buses to get where they want to go, and some of those buses are not operated by the Bee network because we are right on the edge of Greater Manchester. We need more frequent bus services that link to our rail services, but the ridiculous traffic levels on the roads in my constituency will prevent them from reaching their potential. Whether it is the A6 or Stockport Road, journeys that normally take 20 minutes can take over an hour in the morning and evening rush hours. Public transport is the obvious solution. We should make it easier for those who can take the tram or the train so that the roads are freed up for those who cannot. Trams and trains offer commuters the ability to bypass rush hour congestion in a way that buses cannot.

Transport for Greater Manchester has an ambition to restore regular passenger rail services on the Stockport to Stalybridge line. This provides a unique opportunity to reduce rush hour journey times significantly for commuters heading to Stockport from my constituency. The rail line from Bredbury to Piccadilly crosses over the Stockport to Stalybridge line near Reddish Vale. I encourage the Department for Transport and TfGM to explore the possibility of linking those two lines, whether in the form of a new interchange station or a chord linking the two. The message from my constituents is clear: they need public transport that works for them. That means a railway system that people can rely on, bus routes that connect communities rather than isolate them, and investment in new transport links that drive economic growth.

09:43

[Graham Stringer (Blackley and Middleton South) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Ms McVey. In the few minutes available to me, I would like to put transport in the north-west into perspective. I would not like anything I say to be taken as a criticism of the mayor or of Transport for Greater Manchester. The Bee network, which is an excellent scheme, has put Greater Manchester to the situation London has had for the last 45 years, which we see as progress.

As the hon. Member for Hazel Grove (Lisa Smart) has just said, investment in transport is vital for economic growth. However, when we look at the national objectives, and as we have seen forever—since the second world war—more money is going into London and the south-east than the north-west. For all of Transport for Greater Manchester’s successes, it has had to fight the Department for Transport to get extra investment for Metrolink and fight Labour and Conservative Ministers to get money for investment.

There is great potential in the north-west. In fact, we would get more out of investment in transport links in the north-west than the south-east, because of what we are, in effect, doing when we invest in London and the south-east. All transport investment creates jobs and growth, but in London and the south-east we are then, in effect, subsidising congestion, because we get so much congestion that we need more investment afterwards. That is not the situation in Greater Manchester and the north-west. I am not against the Lower Thames crossing, but three quarters of a billion pounds has already been spent on assessing whether it will be any use whatever, and that money would benefit transport in Greater Manchester, and jobs and investment for the whole country, much more than it will the Lower Thames area.

[Dr Andrew Murrison in the Chair]

We have suffered, in that we are not getting High Speed 2 at the moment. I think the campaign to get the rail link from Birmingham to Manchester and Manchester airport should continue. It is extraordinary to see the billions of pounds that have been spent on high-speed rail from London to Birmingham, mainly on tunnels.

[Lizzi Collinge (Morecambe and Lunesdale) (Lab)]

Does my hon. Friend agree that some of the benefits of HS2 have been masked by the name High Speed 2 and that one of the main benefits of HS2 is actually capacity, which we desperately need on the railways?

[Graham Stringer]

My hon. Friend is precisely right: the real case for High Speed 2, as I am afraid it will always be called, was capacity. We are not getting that extra capacity between Birmingham and Manchester without HS2. If that capacity were to happen—it should happen—it would lead to the necessity of extra investment in the rail system east, west and internally within Greater Manchester. It would lead to more investment, so we need to campaign for it. All we have at the moment is an extension to the London underground system, which will benefit London and Birmingham.

The hon. Member for Hazel Grove mentioned the Metrolink going to Stockport, and I agree with her. For the first time for nearly a quarter of a century, we do not have viable plans that we know will happen, and we may have to carry on fighting Ministers and the Department for Transport for the next stage. Obviously, I would like trams to go to Middleton, as I represent part of it, but I agree that trams going to Stockport and other parts of the conurbation—perhaps Leigh as well—would mean transport and economic development. So I think we have to keep campaigning and making the case that bucks spent on transport in Greater Manchester will get us more than money spent in London and the south-east.

09:49

[Lizzi Collinge (Morecambe and Lunesdale) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Murrison. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Leigh and Atherton (Jo Platt) for securing this important debate.

My constituency is semi-urban and semi-rural. Without good public transport, my constituents cannot get around, and the visitors we so enjoy having in our area cannot get in. A lot of people in my community struggle with access to services such as GPs and hospital appointments and with getting to work. That creates more pressure on services such as patient transport services and GP home visits. It also affects the nature of my constituency, in that we have an ageing population, with fewer young families able to move in. My rural businesses and organisations that represent them, such as the Sedbergh Economic Partnership, also tell me that transport connectivity in rural areas is a massive bar to growth, because businesses cannot get the staff they need to expand.

Sedbergh itself is struggling at the minute. There has been a bus service change, so the service is now less accessible and frequent. At my suggestion, Sedbergh set up a bus users’ group—I am a big fan of buses and bus users’ groups. In Lancashire we have a fantastic bus users’ group, the Lancaster Bus Users’ Group, of which I am a proud member.

I thank the Government for their investment in bus services—£27 million in Lancashire and £4.2 million in Westmorland and Furness. I hope to see my local authorities take on the new powers that the Government will give them, so that we ensure we have rural bus services that serve my constituents, work together, fit together and fit in with people’s lives.

I am also a big fan of trains. My constituency has the highest main line train station in England, in Dent. It is beautiful, although it is not actually in Dent village, which causes some confusion. We have some other fantastic stations, such as Garsdale, which is also beautiful, as the hon. Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale (Tim Farron) will know, and Arnside. However, we have real problems with accessibility, so older people and people with disabilities cannot get the train—when the train turns up. Because these are not areas with huge populations, they struggle to access grant services, such as the Access for All fund. There is real inequity in how some of the funds for station improvements are allocated.

Finally, I want to talk a little about active travel, which is important. Active travel means moving ourselves around, whether by wheeling in a wheelchair, cycling on a bike or walking. It is good for our health, and spending more time in London, with its fantastic public transport service, I have walked a lot more. I have actually lost weight since the election—I think that is unheard of—because I am walking so much. That shows the health benefits of an integrated public transport system and proper transport connectivity.

I want to highlight a visionary project in my constituency, the Lune Valley Greenway, which is a path that people can walk, wheel or cycle on from the coast at Morecambe right into the Yorkshire Dales national park. It currently goes from Morecambe, via Lancaster, up to Bull Beck near Caton. The ambition is for it not only to go from the coast to the national park, but to link up with public transport systems, so that people visiting our area, as well as people living and working in my constituency, can access the countryside and good public transport. I would love to invite the Minister to visit.

09:53

[Patrick Hurley (Southport) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Murrison. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Leigh and Atherton (Jo Platt) for securing the debate.

I will lay out my case in simple terms: north-west public transport is not up to scratch. Specifically, our railway journeys are nowhere near good enough. They are holding our region’s economy back, and we need change. Take my constituency, for instance: there is no direct public transport link from one side of the constituency to the other, despite it being overwhelmingly urban. Try to take public transport from Birkdale to Rufford—a journey of 10 miles—and a single ticket will cost £21, while the journey will take one hour and 11 minutes and involve changing trains three times. It is literally 10 miles away; it would almost be quicker to walk.

Even the rail services that we do have are incredibly unreliable. Just this morning, at 6.47 am, Merseyrail sent out a message on social media saying:

“Due to a train fault, some services on the Southport line face cancellations”.

The first reply said:

“Another day, another train fault”.

The second reply blamed the politicians.

The service to Manchester is even worse: in November, there were no services at all on Sundays for three weeks in a row, and more than a quarter of all journeys were either delayed or cancelled. When the trains do turn up, passengers are greeted with what the chief exec of Northern Rail has called

“some of the worst-performing rolling stock in the country.”

That cannot be allowed to continue.

The constituency’s connectivity has also been directly impacted by the well-known 1960s cuts to railway services. The closure of two simple railway curves in Burscough, just outside of constituency, means that the seven-mile journey from Ormskirk to Southport takes 85 minutes by train, and that the notional 20-mile journey to Preston involves passengers changing at Wigan, which is itself 20 miles out of the way. We are lucky, though, because unlike in other parts of the country, the railway curves at Burscough were never built over—they are still there, just overgrown and unloved. It would cost an estimated £30 million to reinstate them, which would once again connect the towns of Merseyside and west Lancashire, and strengthen travel-to-work routes, promoting the economic growth we all want so desperately.

It is not all bad. The Liverpool city region combined authority is maintaining the £2 bus fare cap, including in Southport, and we are moving forward with trials of bus franchising across the region. Despite problems, Merseyrail still received the second highest overall customer satisfaction levels nationally in the latest surveys. And although there is perhaps an element of empire-building, I welcome the fact that our line to Manchester is set to be brought into the Greater Manchester Bee network in 2028, which will finally allow a tap-in, tap-out ticketing system, integrating with Manchester’s.

Those positives point the way forward, as more devolution on transport and greater statutory powers for the coming Lancashire combined county authority ensure that the rest of the north-west is linked up, in the way my constituency already is.

09:57

[Jonathan Hinder (Pendle and Clitheroe) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure, albeit slightly unexpected, to serve under your chairship this morning, Dr Murrison. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Leigh and Atherton (Jo Platt) for securing this important and clearly popular debate.

I will focus my remarks on the rail network. In Pendle and Clitheroe, slow and unreliable rail services, along with disjointed connections, cause daily frustrations for my constituents. Those issues create barriers to work, education and healthcare, and ultimately hold our local economy back.

In my constituency we have two rail routes. The Colne to Preston line operates just one train per hour, taking an hour and 15 minutes to cover only 25 miles. The Clitheroe to Manchester line is no better—again, with just one train per hour, and taking an hour and 20 minutes to travel just 30 miles. If a train is cancelled in the south-east of England, there is often another coming in 10 or 15 minutes, whereas if one train is cancelled in an hourly service, the whole day is ruined.

Those routes are not fit for purpose; we all know that that level of service would not be tolerated on routes going into London. If we want to unlock the potential of our towns, we need investment in order to increase frequency, cut journey times and improve service reliability. Would it be so impossible to have two trains per hour on those routes and speed them up? Would more rolling stock be required? Yes. Would more staff be required? Yes. But can it be done with the right political will? Of course it can. The economic benefits would be profound.

Right now, the connection times do not even make sense. If someone took that slow train from Colne to Preston this morning, hoping to travel south to the capital city, they would wait nearly an hour at Preston for the next train. For public transport to be a viable alternative to car travel, services and timetables must be co-ordinated and designed around the needs of passengers, which currently is simply not the case.

In the longer term, reinstating the Colne to Skipton rail link would be a game changer for east-west travel and our local economy. Reopening the 11-mile stretch, the track bed of which has been protected—that was a theme of my hon. Friend the Member for Southport (Patrick Hurley)—would open up huge opportunities for jobs and businesses. The project would dramatically improve economic prospects for deprived areas across east Lancashire, well beyond my constituency, and I will continue to campaign for its reinstatement.

Regional inequality in our country is stark, and nowhere is that more obvious than in public transport. Time and again, we have seen rail projects prioritised in the south-east while towns across the north are left waiting for long-overdue upgrades. I know that the Government understand the issue, but I urge them to be bold, act now and commit to delivering a transport system that truly works for the north-west.

[Several hon. Members rose—]

[Dr Andrew Murrison (in the Chair)]

It would be good if other contributions could be similarly brief, to allow as many colleagues as possible to speak.

10:00

[Navendu Mishra (Stockport) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Murrison. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Leigh and Atherton (Jo Platt) on securing this debate; it is clearly very popular. I refer to the Register of Members’ Financial Interests in relation to my trade union memberships, particularly donations from the RMT to my constituency Labour party.

I will add to the points made by several colleagues on extending the Metrolink tram network. I would like to see it extended into Hazel Grove, as my neighbour the hon. Member for Hazel Grove (Lisa Smart) said. I would also like to see it extended into Stockport town centre. I understand that the Greater Manchester combined authority and Stockport council are developing a strategic outline business case, which should be completed by autumn this year. I want to see the work start as soon as possible, and I would welcome a meeting with the Minister as soon as possible, perhaps with the hon. Member for Hazel Grove, to discuss that.

I have limited time, but I have a couple of points to make. The first is on Stockport railway station, which recorded almost 3.8 million entries and exits in the last reporting period. It is a major hub for Greater Manchester and the north-west region. I am aware that several of my colleagues from Greater Manchester travel to Stockport on a Monday to take the train to London, because it is easier, and several local services often have poor connectivity. However, unfortunately the station is in a dire state. The roof leaks often, the toilets are outdated and the lifts are frequently faulty, which particularly disadvantages passengers with mobility issues or heavy luggage. I want to see real investment in Stockport station. I know that Network Rail and Avanti are doing some work, but we need to be bold about investing. Avanti employs about 48 staff at Stockport station. I know almost all of them, if not all, and many share my concerns about the state of the station. I am grateful to all of them.

My hon. Friend the Member for Morecambe and Lunesdale (Lizzi Collinge) made a point about step-free access at railway stations. The Access for All scheme is just far too slow and not ambitious enough. Sadly, three out of five rail stations in my constituency—Brinnington, Heaton Chapel and Reddish South—do not have step-free access. I want to see that addressed as soon as possible. I also want to use this valuable time to pay tribute to Nathanial Yates from my constituency. He has done a lot of work on step-free access. He is a champion for public transport, and I want to place on the record my thanks to him for his work, not just in Stockport but across Greater Manchester.

Reddish South station in my constituency has a train service once a week. Every Saturday morning, a train arrives and goes into Stockport. A few minutes later, that same train comes from Stockport via Reddish South. In the last reporting period, Reddish South recorded 80 passengers in an entire year. Friends of Reddish South Station is quite active on that issue; I meet its members frequently. I pay tribute to all their work, but we need to address the situation. The increase in housing around Reddish South and the changes in Reddish over the years mean that we need proper services to that station, to improve connectivity into not only Stockport town centre, but Manchester and other parts of the north-west.

My last point is that before covid, we used to have a direct service from Stockport station into Manchester airport. That service was withdrawn during the pandemic and sadly has not returned. Passengers often have to go into Manchester Piccadilly and then wait to change trains. Many who travel to Manchester airport have heavy luggage, so it is not an ideal situation. We need to see that service reinstated as soon as possible.

I like to end on a positive point: I welcome bus franchising. Mayor Burnham has done a lot of good work. There is obviously a lot more to do on public transport, but I am grateful to colleagues at Transport for Greater Manchester—particularly Ben, whom I am always asking for information—and colleagues at Network Rail.

10:00

[Andrew Cooper (Mid Cheshire) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Murrison. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Leigh and Atherton (Jo Platt) for securing and so ably leading this debate. Mid Cheshire’s towns play an important role in our nation’s economy as one of only two sources of rock salt, as well as chemical, pharmaceutical and plastics manufacturing. Yet when I speak to businesses—or indeed anyone—they tell me that poor transport infrastructure is one of the biggest issues holding back businesses, jobs and investments in Northwich, Winsford and Middlewich.

That is far from a new phenomenon; the Middlewich eastern bypass project has been the subject of local campaigns for more than 40 years, and was shamefully kicked into the long grass by the previous Government, despite earlier promises to fund it. Campaigns for better sustainable transport, such as more frequent rail services from Northwich and Winsford, a station for Middlewich— I sympathise with the point made by my hon. Friend the Member for Leigh and Atherton, as Middlewich is the largest town in Cheshire without a railway station—or a functioning bus service anywhere in the constituency, have hit barriers to progress. While I would love to use my time to ask the Minister to look kindly upon any or all of those projects, the issue is deeper than any one single project—although he is of course welcome to intervene.

We can and must fix the foundations of our economy, but we must also tackle the structures that systemically disadvantage our region—particularly areas outside the big cities—in the allocation of infrastructure investment. On that, I will limit myself to one point, which is fundamental to this debate. The Green Book, developed by the Treasury, is the Government’s primary guidance for evaluating and appraising public sector projects on value for money, but it utterly fails to adjust for regional disparities. The reality is that, as of right now, salaries are higher and high-value sectors are more likely to be located in London and the south-east than they are in the north-west.

On a like-for-like basis, it will always be easier to demonstrate a higher return on investment from a project here in London than it will be in my constituency. That is a problem. It is a problem because it undervalues the benefit of economic regeneration or better social cohesion, and it underprices the exacerbating effect that it has on London’s housing crisis, the pressure on its public services and the benefit that will be brought by distributing growth across the country. IPPR North estimated in 2020 that, on transport alone, if the north had seen the same per-person investment as London over the last decade, it would have received £66 billion more. The Chancellor has announced a review of the Green Book; I urge the Minister to exercise whatever influence he has to ensure that this moment is seized to finally fix this issue, which has been a barrier to growth for so long.

Our region, from our big cities to our small towns and from our industrial powerhouses to our rural hinterland, is ambitious for our future. We are hungry to play our part in our country’s economic recovery. We are impatient for the Government to see our potential after so many years of undelivered promises. This Government finally have us facing in the right direction on valuing and investing in our bus network, and on ensuring that railways deliver for passengers, not shareholders. They are progressing devolution in Cheshire and Lancashire that will finally give us the powers we need to set our own transport investment priorities. I hope that the comprehensive spending review and the Green Book review are opportunities to go further—not just to talk about handing power and money to the regions, but to set the rules to ensure that it happens.

10:08

[Connor Naismith (Crewe and Nantwich) (Lab)]

It is an honour to serve under your chairship, Dr Murrison. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Leigh and Atherton (Jo Platt) for securing this important debate. Good transport links are a vital component of any economy that aspires to achieve economic growth and good opportunities for its citizens. There is simply no point in having a job for every person if those people cannot physically get to where those jobs are.

In the time that I have, I will focus my remarks on rail. If Heathrow is a hub for aviation in the south, from which investment and growth ripple outwards, Crewe station is that hub for rail in the north. Crewe provides 360° connectivity to all major cities across the UK, and that unrivalled connectivity makes it a vital hub for both passenger and freight rail. It is uniquely positioned as a gateway to the midlands engine, the northern powerhouse, Scotland and Wales. However, the west coast main line, a vital artery for our region, has been grappling with significant capacity challenges. Reports have shown that

“There is no available capacity without significantly impacting performance and causing a reduction in timetable resilience”—

something that I believe every Member in this place experiences, perhaps weekly. That leaves little room for additional services, causing frequent delays. The impact of lack of capacity on rail services affects every single one of our constituencies, and the capacity for economic growth that that additional capacity could unlock cannot be understated.

We simply require new infrastructure in our region to tackle that problem. The Conservative Government’s approach to infrastructure was nothing short of Jekyll and Hyde, with communities and industries not knowing whether they were coming or going. We saw a stop-start approach to major projects, with promises made and then broken, dither and delay and a lack of active oversight, which saw costs spiral. The management of and the decision to cancel HS2 phase 2a is a prime example of that. The cancellation has not only undermined the promise of greater connectivity for northern towns and cities, but has left a gaping hole in our region’s economic growth prospects.

Ahead of the comprehensive spending review, Ministers are looking carefully at the situation the Government have inherited. It would be remiss of me not to once again ask the Government whether they would consider how new infrastructure connecting the midlands and the north of England, utilising Crewe station, with the right investment, could be a key driver for connectivity and growth in any plans to address the capacity challenges that I have outlined.

It is absolutely clear to me that better connectivity between our towns and villages and major cities in the north can be a major lever in our efforts to create those opportunities that our people need and deserve to fulfil their potential, and that is what people elected a Labour Government to do.

10:12

[David Baines (St Helens North) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Murrison. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Leigh and Atherton (Jo Platt) for securing this debate on a topic that is popular in our region—as is clear from attendance this morning. For decades we have suffered cuts to bus routes, unreliable train services and fragmented transport planning. Economic growth has not been the only thing impacted. Social isolation has worsened and the changes have impacted vulnerable groups who rely on public transport—especially, in places like St Helens, on buses. I am pleased that the last two issues have already been mentioned, as they are sometimes overlooked.

Eighty-two per cent of all public transport journeys in the Liverpool city region are made by bus, but our region, including St Helens North, has been hit hard by the national decline in bus services. Since 2020, we have lost 15 routes. Much of St Helens North is rural; the cuts have left many areas, such as Rainford, reliant on infrequent, heavily subsidised services. Across the entire Liverpool city region, a staggering 6 million service miles have been withdrawn since 2018, directly impacting our residents. For 40 years, since Thatcher’s failed deregulation experiment, we have suffered a system in which private operators dictate routes based on profit rather than public need.

As the leader of St Helens borough council before becoming an MP, I was a member of the Liverpool city region combined authority, and strongly supported the pursuance of bus franchising, bringing our buses back under greater public control. I am delighted to say that, thanks to metro Mayor Steve Rotheram and other local leaders, including St Helens borough council leader Anthony Burns, St Helens will, from September 2026, be the first area in the Liverpool city region to benefit from publicly controlled bus services. That means that routes, fares and timetables will be set by the combined authority, not dictated by private companies: passengers first, not profit.

The story is similar when it comes to our rail network, with delays and cancellations plaguing too many people who are reliant on trains to travel for work or leisure. The state of some of our stations is not good enough either, particularly when it comes to accessibility. In 2025, it is surely not too much to expect that every station should be fully accessible to all passengers. It is a scandal that stations including Garswood and Earlestown in St Helens North do not have step-free access. This is something that local Labour councillors, campaigners and our metro Mayor are all keen to fix, and they have my full and ongoing support. I should be grateful if the Minister would share his view on that, either when summing up or outside of the debate.

St Helens North and our wider borough is in a great location, in one strong city region and bordering another, with the M6, the M62 and major rail routes running through it. With affordable and reliable public transport, there is no limit to the growth that we could unlock. As in so many things, all we are looking for is fair funding and the opportunity to fulfil our potential.

10:15

[Kirith Entwistle (Bolton North East) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Murrison. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Leigh and Atherton (Jo Platt) for securing this crucial and popular debate. Improving transport connectivity in Bolton is a priority that matters deeply to me, and I am proud to join fellow north-west MPs in fighting for a better, fairer transport system for my constituents.

A good transport network does more than move people; it moves society forward. It connects us to education, jobs and businesses that drive our economy and to the family, friends and communities that shape us. It is the foundation stone of a thriving society, because if we get our transport infrastructure right, everything else follows. For too many people in Bolton, however, transport is not a bridge to opportunity, but a barrier with real consequences. No child in Breightmet should have to miss an after-school club because they cannot find a bus. No college student in Little Lever should have to turn down an apprenticeship because fares are too high. No adult in Bromley Cross should have to miss a job interview because their trains are cancelled again.

For too long, under-investment in transport has held back Bolton’s communities. Loneliness and isolation among young and elderly people are at an all-time high, and we know that good transport can mean the difference between precious time spent with loved ones or another day spent alone. Complicated routes and unreliable services are leaving pensioners and teenagers stranded—isolating not just individuals, but entire communities.

When transport in Bolton fails, everything else suffers. That is why, since my first speech in Parliament, I have called for Metrolink to be extended to Bolton and that call remains urgent. Metrolink is expanding, yet Bolton—one of Greater Manchester’s largest towns—remains forgotten. For those who say that our rail services are already good enough, I invite them to catch a train from Bolton late at night or at the weekend, or indeed on their first day of work and be met with a cancelled train, as I experienced on my first day travelling down to this place.

One third of all trains into Bolton arrive late, and almost half of TransPennine Express trains. Bolton residents deserve better, and I look forward to working alongside Mayor Andy Burnham and the Greater Manchester combined authority as we build the business case for a long overdue extension.

My hon. Friends the Members for Morecambe and Lunesdale (Lizzi Collinge) and for St Helens North (David Baines) mentioned accessibility. We also desperately need to think about parents with prams who get left out. When we fix the rail system, we empower towns such as Bolton to thrive. Of course, it is not only about rail: in just 18 months, the Bee network has been a huge step forward for Bolton, proving what is possible when people, not profit, come first.

Finally, we must fight for regional fairness. In London, over-60s travel for free. In Greater Manchester, they do not. Why should older people in the north-west settle for less? I will push to introduce free travel for over-60s in Greater Manchester, because affordable transport helps older people to stay active, connected and independent.

As north-west MPs, we are united in our fight for a better, fairer transport system. Better transport means stronger businesses, connected communities and a fairer, thriving north-west region. When transport works, everything else follows. I sincerely hope that the Minister agrees and that he will commit to making collaboration on improving Bolton and north-west transport a priority.

10:18

[Andy MacNae (Rossendale and Darwen) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Murrison. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Leigh and Atherton (Jo Platt) on securing this important debate. I had originally prepared a lengthy speech that laid out in great and eloquent detail the huge number of issues that we have in Rossendale and Darwen around transport.

Those issues include the challenge of simply walking or cycling to school or work; our patchy bus services and isolated villages; the congested, unsafe and potholed roads; and of course our railway connections—or lack of them. Darwen’s transport could generously be described as wildly unreliable, while Rossendale is the only local authority area in the north with no commuter links at all. I therefore look with envy at my hon. Friends with merely unreliable services.

Time does not allow for a full explanation of all those issues, and it would clearly be unnecessary, as this debate shows that the picture is shared and understood by hon. Members. I am sure that the Minister recognises it too. We are all too familiar with cut-off small towns and villages with so much unmet potential, yet the investment never seems to come our way.

We know the problems and the legacy that we have been left with, and we know the massive benefits that true transport connectivity can deliver, but we also know the solutions. The Government have made a start by investing in rural bus services and pothole repair, while committing to act on some long-standing regional rail priorities. However, the question remains as to how we make sure that left-behind towns get the connectivity they need to unleash their full potential. The previous Government and the systems that they put in place manifestly failed to do that, but I believe we have two big opportunities under the new Government to do things differently and to deliver the change that the north-west needs.

As my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Cheshire (Andrew Cooper) eloquently—indeed, brilliantly—put it, the Green Book is a massive issue that has resulted in a sustained long-term bias towards wealthier areas. We have to change that. The Treasury review is a huge opportunity for us, and we must ensure that it is carried out with true ambition, rather than just tweaking the rules. The existing bias must be removed and the long-term strategic impacts of investment fully recognised, as opposed to overvaluing short-term returns. We also need to ensure that the social wellbeing and enabling aspects of projects are properly valued. Indeed, why not bias projects towards deprived areas?

We also need to recognise that guidelines are just guidelines, and that there are entrenched cultures within appraisal mechanisms that, regardless of what the guidelines say, will tend to default to outdated benefit-cost ratio metrics. That review is a huge opportunity that we must grasp and I am really glad that the north-west is speaking with one voice on the issue.

Of course, our other great opportunity is devolution. The north-west could be the first region in England to have a full set of elected mayors with devolved budgets. That would give us the chance to join up our transport investment across the north. We have seen what innovative transport thinking can do in Manchester, so let us imagine what could be achieved across the north with a fully devolved regional transport budget and mayors working together to unlock our potential.

I find that possibility hugely exciting, but I also worry that opportunistic and self-interested local politicians may try to derail the process. For instance, the Reform candidates in the Lancashire county council elections are standing on a platform opposing devolution. They are defending a status quo that may be in their own interests, but it manifestly does not meet the interests of residents of Lancashire—what madness! We need to reject such pessimism and put the north-west back in the fast lane.

It is in small towns such as Rossendale and Darwen that the next election will be won and lost. We cannot be left behind as our cities forge ahead. Truly integrated transport could connect our futures, and I believe that the Government and our empowered communities can grasp that opportunity.

10:22

[Mrs Sarah Russell (Congleton) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Murrison.

In my constituency, we have had a large amount of housing growth in the last few years, and we expect to have much more. My constituents are not nimbys; they absolutely recognise that it is a huge problem that young people cannot afford to leave home in our area. It is also a huge problem that there is an absolute shortage of care workers in my area alongside an older population, and that we do not have sufficient nurses and teachers. We need key worker housing, but we also need the infrastructure to go with it.

Transport is primarily about roads in my local area, which consists of a series of small towns and villages that people drive between as much as they can. I live in my constituency, so I despair of the potholes in exactly the same way that my constituents do. Our roads are dark and dangerous, and far too many of our young people are dying on them completely needlessly. The A500 is a complete mess. The A34 is the major road to Manchester and lots of people commute on it, but it is single-lane, unlit and frequently flooded. It is completely dangerous; indeed, it is a disaster. I could carry on ad infinitum—I could list so many roads—but the only other one that I will mention specifically is the Middlewich bypass, which would unlock major employment opportunities. We need the Government to fund work on it.

When I talk to young people in my area or to older people who cannot drive, the major mode of transport they talk about is buses. For example, I had the pleasure of talking to Shipton explorer scouts about their experience of trying to use buses in our local area. They told me about buses being so full that the drivers simply drive past them on the way to school and will not pick them up. There are not enough services and, as I say, they simply do not stop.

If someone tries to take a bus from Alsager to Royal Stoke university hospital or Leighton hospital, for example, it will take them nearly an hour, despite the distance being only 9 miles. If someone tries to take what might be one of the most important journeys they are ever going to make, for example from Holmes Chapel to one of our local hospices, it will also take them a really long time. Similarly, there is no direct bus from Congleton, a town of 30,000 people, to Macclesfield district general hospital, which is our nearest major general hospital. Bus services are fundamental services. We want to invest in the NHS, and it is vital that we do so, but there is no point in us creating additional appointments if people simply cannot get to them.

And don’t get me started on trains in my constituency. They are unbelievably unreliable. There have been no Sunday services for literally years: Congleton’s last train from Manchester is at about 9 o’clock on a Saturday night. I reiterate: this is a town with 30,000 people. Sandbach, a town of 20,000 people, has no accessible route across the platform, so people with disabilities, with buggies or with luggage—it is a route to Manchester airport—simply cannot get there and have to go backwards to Crewe to make the journey to Manchester. It is absolutely crackers.

I could talk about that in more detail, but I really want to talk about the fact that the decisions about transport investment have historically been incredibly short-sighted. I reiterate the comment of my hon. Friend the Member for Mid Cheshire (Andrew Cooper): we would have had £66 billion more in the last decade alone if we had had the same per person investment as London. I do not want to take money away from London. I want us to have a thriving capital, but I want my constituents to be able to get there. I also want them not to have to get there—to have opportunities in my constituency and in the wider north-west in the first place, and to be able to access them.

10:26

[Michael Wheeler (Worsley and Eccles) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Murrison. I thank my neighbour, my hon. Friend Member for Leigh and Atherton (Jo Platt), for securing this debate about connectivity; we are well connected, as I am sure she appreciates.

Efficient, affordable and accessible transport options are crucial to north-west workers, its economy and the ability to unlock growth. A well-connected transport system broadens access to opportunities and enhances our region’s competitiveness. Transport infrastructure and the affordability of transport options directly impacts the jobs that people are able to take, where they are able to live, and their access to essential services, as so many hon. Members have said. That is particularly true for those living in commuter belt towns and suburban areas in my constituency of Worsley and Eccles. We must do more to ensure that the different modes of transport on offer are interconnected, ensuring smooth and efficient journeys, and making it as easy as possible for everyone to move around our region.

Driving remains the most popular mode of transport in Worsley and Eccles, but high levels of congestion are a real issue for all of us, including rush hour commuters of all forms. An improved public transport system can reduce the strain on our roads, benefiting all commuters, including those for whom driving will remain the most appropriate form of transport.

I am a north-west MP and, like all Members here who regularly come to London, I can see with my own eyes what can be achieved with proper investment, funding and Government focus on our transport system. To give one small comparison, from Eccles in my constituency to Manchester Piccadilly, we have one or maybe two trains an hour on the main commuter line. From Surbiton in south London to Waterloo, there are 10 an hour. That is a world of difference and makes trains a viable option for many people as an integral part of our network.

As I am sure the Government recognise, delivering greater transport connectivity is one of the most effective tools available to increase vital access to opportunities and deliver the growth we all need, which will underpin all our services and fundamentally improve the living standards of everyone we are here to represent. In Greater Manchester, we are making great progress via the expansion of the Bee network, including the roll-out of tap and go contactless ticketing, and daily and weekly fare caps, which are coming this weekend, but we must go further to bring trains into that network and to deliver the comprehensive, interconnected transport system that will deliver the benefits that we have all been talking about.

It is absolutely vital that we continue the mission to expand and improve our transport networks, so that everyone across our whole region can benefit from them in getting around more easily and getting to those jobs. That will make everywhere a viable place to live, to attract investment and to deliver on the potential that we all know that our region has.

10:29

[Sarah Hall (Warrington South) (Lab/Co-op)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Dr Murrison. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Leigh and Atherton (Jo Platt) on securing this crucial debate.

Constituencies such as mine have long faced challenges of poor connectivity. Warrington South is located at the crossroads of the north-west. It is strategically placed between Manchester, to the east, and Liverpool, to the west. Our town is successful: it is a desirable place to live and has grown considerably in size over recent years but, sadly, investment in transport has just not kept up. We have congestion on the roads, limited, poor-quality crossing points over the Manchester ship canal, ageing infrastructure and unelectrified rail lines. Towns such as mine deserve better.

It is critical to understand how poor connectivity is constraining growth, limiting our potential and leaving us behind. Uncertainty about infrastructure projects such as Northern Powerhouse Rail, slimmed-down projects such as HS2 and delayed projects such as the Western Link congestion relief road are part of the problem. According to data published at the end of last year, every region of the country falls behind London in public spending on transport per head. The capital receives about £1,313 per person, but the north-west receives only £729. That shocking £584 difference shows the north-south divide in practice once again.

A report by Transport for the North revealed that one fifth of people living in northern England are prevented from taking up opportunities and participating in communities around them due to poor connectivity and mobility. The focus must be not only on the big cities: it must also include towns such as Warrington and Leigh.

Investment in transport infrastructure can be transformational. It can act as a catalyst for growth, unlock potential and drive forward the Government’s plan for change. We need a co-ordinated effort that better links our communities and recognises the contribution that our towns and villages make to the wider economy and the potential they have to offer. We cannot allow the transport challenges of the past to restrict our potential in the future. With the right investment in the right places, we have the opportunity to grow the national economy and our local economy.

10:32

[Phil Brickell (Bolton West) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Dr Murrison. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Leigh and Atherton (Jo Platt) on securing this crucial debate on transport connectivity in the north-west—an issue that impacts the day-to-day lives of many of my constituents and people across the whole region.

Our region has historically been neglected when it comes to transport, but I want to begin with a positive: I reiterate my wholehearted support for the electrification of the Bolton to Wigan train line, properly funded under this Labour Government. I also welcome the extension of the excellent Greater Manchester Bee network out towards my constituency.

Given that other Members have spoken so eloquently about planes, trains and automobiles, I will focus on a particular issue in my Bolton West constituency: the Hulton Park housing development. Hulton Park is a significant development, but it suffers from a critical oversight: a complete lack of sustainable transport options. Local public transport links are virtually non-existent. That will force future residents to rely almost entirely on cars and will snarl up the already overly congested roads for my constituents.

I am sure colleagues agree that we should not rubber-stamp major housing projects without properly considering how people will get to work and school and access sustainable essential services locally in a convenient manner. In Bolton West, we already have severe congestion at Four Lane Ends in Hulton, where traffic bottlenecks daily and pedestrian facilities are extremely limited. The recent proposal for two additional housing developments in Leigh, one of which is particularly large, will only compound the issue.

To be clear, I wholeheartedly support the Government’s housing plans, which are necessary given that the previous Tory Government sat on their hands for 14 years. We have built 4.3 million fewer homes than comparable countries since the second world war, and house prices are now 8.3 times the average income, pricing many of my constituents out of home ownership, but we must strive to deliver those new homes in a way that does not force residents into car dependency and exacerbate existing congestion issues. For me, the Hulton Park development is emblematic of a broader failure to link transport planning, house building and, crucially, economic growth.

We must ensure that new developments are served by cycle, pedestrian, bus, rail and tram networks from the outset, rather than as an afterthought. We should be planning how to mitigate existing congestion before spades are in the ground. This is about more than convenience; it is about the future of our towns and our cities. It is about delivering economic growth by ensuring connectivity between new developments and workplaces. It is about reducing emissions, improving air quality and ensuring that everyone has fair access to transport. I urge the Minister: let us not only build the homes that we need but build them with the infrastructure they deserve.

[Dr Andrew Murrison (in the Chair)]

Well done, everybody; all Members have got in. I call the Lib Dem spokesman, Tim Farron.

10:35

[Tim Farron (Westmorland and Lonsdale) (LD)]

It is an honour to serve under your guidance this morning, Dr Murrison. It is also an honour to follow the hon. Member for Leigh and Atherton (Jo Platt), who admirably led this debate, as well as many other colleagues from across the north-west who have made excellent contributions on behalf of both their constituencies and the north-west as a whole, which is of course the greatest region on planet Earth. It is home to the greatest towns and cities, and indeed the greatest and most beautiful landscape that we have to offer.

The north-west is the birthplace of the industrial revolution, yet it is appalling that our region performs 6.8% below the national average on productivity. Indeed, the only regions with productivity above the national average are London and the south-east. Over the last 60 or 70 years, we have become a steadily unipolar country, and the north-west, like lots of other parts of the UK, has become undermined. We saw levelling up from the last Government, which had some admirable aspects, but essentially—dare I say—it felt like a whole load of pork barrel with no strategy. Let us hope that we can have some strategy.

The cancellation of HS2 summed up that lack of strategy. I completely agree with the hon. Members for Blackley and Middleton South (Graham Stringer) and for Morecambe and Lunesdale (Lizzi Collinge), who is my neighbour; they talked about HS2 being about capacity and not speed. If we had a proper HS2 line to the north-west that mirrored and upgraded the west coast main line, which is the most congested rail line in western Europe, that would give us the opportunity to reopen many stations along the existing main line— I will throw out Tebay, Shap and Milnthorpe, just to name three. We must also think about how important it is for the north-west to relate to not just London but other parts of the north of England. East-west connectivity is crucial. What we used to call High Speed 3, or Northern Powerhouse Rail, is hugely significant, and we want to see and hear more about it.

As an MP in Cumbria, I am bound to say that often, when we talk about the north-west, we seem to stop thinking about anything that exists north of junction 32 —I can confirm that it does exist. In particular, I would love the Minister to focus on the A66, which is a hugely important road for connectivity that links the A1(M) and the M6, so it connects the ports in the east and the west of this country. In a parallel universe, it would have been a motorway. However, for 12 miles it is a single carriageway, where there are hideous numbers of deaths that are always concentrated in that small section.

I urge the Minister and his colleagues to say yes to the A66 upgrade as soon as possible. Everybody in my neck of the woods is on tenterhooks waiting to hear. Likewise, there is work that has to be done on the M6 near junction 38. While it is massively important to the whole motorway network in the north, the people of Tebay must not be isolated during that work, and I ask the Minister to pay special attention to the so far inadequate levels of mitigation from National Highways, as those eight bridges have to be replaced in the coming years.

It is also important to talk about trains, and to think about what train services are like across the whole of the north-west. I want to highlight the situation with Avanti, and its failure to serve the northern half of the north-west adequately. It is worth bearing in mind that rail services on the west coast managed to meet their timetable obligations only 43.5% of the time, and last year, more than one in 20 services were cancelled. Any of us who live north of Preston know that any problem in the borders of Scotland or Glasgow means a train cancelled at Preston. Lancaster, Oxenholme, Penrith, Carlisle and Lockerbie are often completely overlooked, and that must stop.

I also want the Minister to think very carefully about what can be done to expand existing railway lines to make better use of them. The most visited destination in the United Kingdom outside London is the Lake district, yet we have a single railway line that goes from the main line to Windermere. It is possible, quite cheaply, to double capacity by having a passing loop at Burneside, and I would love the Minister to look at that possibility and see whether he agrees to it.

[Graham Stringer]

In the context of the north-west, we are all friends on this matter. The hon. Member probably does not know, but a few years ago the Transport Committee did a study into north-west trains and found that train schedules in the north-west—not when the trains actually run—were slower when there was a Liberal Prime Minister. Even more surprisingly, it was not Campbell-Bannerman; it was Gladstone.

[Tim Farron]

May I point out that there were many more railway lines then, and therefore more trains to be slow? It was also mostly pre-electricity—so there we go. I am grateful for the hon. Member’s point.

The industrial capability of the west coast of Cumbria—not in my constituency—is significant to the economy of the whole country, and includes BAE at Barrow and Sellafield on the west coast. The railway line that serves them—the Furness line—saw a derailment a year ago and a flooding-related near disaster just a few weeks ago. We need to pay special attention to keeping the Furness line open, upgrading it and electrifying it if possible. I also want to make a case, on behalf of all my Cumbrian colleagues, for the Cumbria coastal line, which needs significant investment.

It is great to hear colleagues from metropolitan parts of the north-west talk about keeping the £2 bus fare cap, but for many of us in areas that are far less well funded, and where devolution has not really happened, such as Cumbria, we are stuck with the £3 cap, and we are worried about that being got rid of altogether. Before the cap came in, the most expensive bus journey in the United Kingdom was Kendal to Ambleside, which cost more than an hour’s wage for somebody working in the hospitality sector. Will the Minister confirm that the £3 cap will not be raised or got rid of any time soon?

It is my great privilege to represent a very rural area, but that means that even when the £3 cap exists, it is of no good whatsoever. It does a fat lot of good if we do not have any buses. Giving our local authority, Westmorland and Furness council, the ability to run its own buses is key to meeting the needs of many rural communities. I am honoured to chair an outfit called Cumbria Better Connected, to which all these issues are regularly fed in. One of the most important issues is connectivity and integration between bus and rail, but it is no—

[Dr Andrew Murrison (in the Chair)]

Order. I call the shadow Minister, Jerome Mayhew.

10:42

[Jerome Mayhew (Broadland and Fakenham) (Con)]

It is lovely to see you in the Chair, Dr Murrison. I pay tribute to the hon. Member for Leigh and Atherton (Jo Platt) for securing the debate, and congratulate all hon. Members, who have put very forceful cases for transport in the north-west. Their combined contributions have demonstrated that there are many shared problems in the region.

I do not have time to mention every hon. Member who has contributed, so I will limit myself to commenting on the contribution of the hon. Member for Leigh and Atherton, who highlighted that her constituency, like I suspect many others in the area, is a post-industrial commuter belt that is struggling to cope with the consequential increase in traffic. Because of the over-reliance on cars, the society suffers from high transport-related social exclusion. There are a number of issues, but I will try to mash them together into three headlines.

Let us start with the positive news, which is the welcome devolution of transport policy. It was implemented by Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, but it was of course a Conservative policy that was brought in in 2017, so while we welcome it, we should share the plaudits. I welcome the success of the Bee network, but we have to recognise that it was expensive—there was £1 billion of Government support.

That raises a big issue, because as well as that £1 billion, Bee is supported by considerably north of £130 million a year from central funds, by my calculations. Its parent, as it were—Transport for London—receives in excess of £1 billion a year. There is therefore a fundamental question here for the Minister. The Bus Services (No. 2) Bill is going through the House of Lords, and I have with me the consultation on Great British Railways and “A railway fit for Britain’s future”. If this is the model for the future, can the Minister shed some light on where the increased funding will come from? It is a good development—it was Conservative policy—but where it is expanded beyond the large mayoral combined authorities to other combined authorities, there will inevitably be an associated cost.

The second related issue is the potential conflict when regional policy butts up against national policy, when a strong regional mayor rightly wants control over a combined transport policy, whether that is buses, rail or road. We potentially have a directing mind under Great British Railways—intended to be one of its key benefits—coming up against Andy Burnham, for example. The consultation paper refers to that, but has no detail on how those potential conflicts will be resolved and who will be the final arbiter. Perhaps the Minister will take the opportunity to respond on that.

Many hon. Members called for the reintroduction of the northern HS2 extension, focusing not on speed, but on capacity. We have to recognise that, again, it comes back to money. The cancellation of the northern part of HS2 redirected £19.8 billion to other transport projects for the region. This is not a comprehensive list, but it gives a flavour: £2 billion for the new station at Bradford and a new connection to Manchester; £3 billion for upgraded and electrified lines from Manchester to Sheffield, Sheffield to Leeds, Sheffield to Hull and Hull to Leeds; about £4 billion of additional transport funding for the six city regions; £2.5 billion of additional funding for outside the city regions; and £3.3 billion for road improvements, albeit largely filling potholes.

[Mrs Russell]

I understand that in that announcement there was £180 million for Cheshire East council, but council leaders were told it would be weighted towards the back end of the seven years. They feel strongly that it was made-up money that was always predicated on borrowing, and that there was never any real intention to give that money to the north-west.

[Jerome Mayhew]

Their concerns were wrong. I had a minor position in the Treasury at the time, and I can assure the hon. Lady that that was genuine redirection of funds, albeit over a period, as one would expect, with the release of funds associated with the development of HS2 in the northern sector.

To conclude the list, we had £3.3 billion for road improvements and an additional £11.5 billion for Northern Powerhouse Rail from Manchester to Liverpool. The question that is easy to miss in opposition but impossible to avoid in government is this: where do the Government want money to be spent? That money could be used for those widespread improvements or be rediverted to a northern branch of a version of HS2, but it is impossible to spend the same money twice. If the Minister wants to do both, where is the money going to come from?

Finally, many hon. Members referred to the seeming disconnect between investment decisions in London and the south-east and elsewhere in the country, the north-west in particular. The hon. Member for Leigh and Atherton used a good phrase:

“Growth goes where the growth already is.”

The previous Government at least took the first step in tackling an injustice in the Green Book analysis. That was undertaken to unlock some of the levelling-up investment that the hon. Member for Westmorland and Lonsdale (Tim Farron) referred to. I am concerned that the new Government—certainly the new Treasury—are reverting to type. When the Chancellor of the Exchequer had her growth panic a few weeks ago—

[Dr Andrew Murrison (in the Chair)]

Order. I call the Minister.

10:49

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport (Simon Lightwood)]

It is a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Dr Murrison. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Leigh and Atherton (Jo Platt) on raising the important topic of connectivity in the north-west—an area that was a cradle to so many transport innovations and is home to beautiful countryside and some of our greatest cities and towns. It is not quite Yorkshire, but it is still a pretty special place.

Kick-starting economic growth is the Government’s No. 1 mission, and the economic performance of the north-west is vital to successful delivery. It is essential that we deliver our plan for change to create more jobs, put more money in people’s pockets and help to rebuild Britain—but, as I am sure my hon. Friend recognises, we cannot have good growth without the transport connectivity to support it.

A truly connected transport network must be designed and built in collaboration with local leaders. That is why the English devolution White Paper published last year is so important. It is an opportunity to reset our relationship with local and sub-national government and to empower local leaders and mayors to make the right decisions for their communities. We are already seeing the benefits across mayoral areas with the introduction of the Bee network in Greater Manchester, alongside mayors in the Liverpool city region and West Yorkshire who are working towards taking back control of their buses. I will just put on the record how pleased I was to hear yesterday that South Yorkshire will also be taking back control of its buses.

The Government will be still more ambitious, however. First, we will make the process for taking buses back into public control faster and simpler through the Bus Services (No. 2) Bill. Secondly, we will give mayors a statutory role in governing, managing and planning the rail network, working alongside Great British Railways. Thirdly, through the English devolution Bill, we will put the roles of mayors on a primary footing, setting out a clear and broad set of powers that will be available to mayors and local leaders.

Our transport network has seen decades of decay. Communities have been cut off and short-changed. Fragmented networks have hindered meaningful change, and the state of our local roads is a result of past under-investment. We are determined to reverse that. An uplift of £200 million was secured at the autumn spending review for city region sustainable transport settlement areas for 2025-26, which was welcomed by the mayoral combined authorities, including Greater Manchester and the Liverpool city region, which are receiving over £1.7 billion from the current CRSTS programme.

The autumn Budget announcement also included a commitment of over £650 million in local transport funding in 2025-26 to ensure that transport connections improve in towns, villages and rural areas, and a funding uplift of £500 million for 2025-26 for highways maintenance. Of that £500 million, the north-west region is receiving over £64.8 million in additional funding. In the Budget the Government confirmed investment of over £1 billion to support and improve bus services and keep fares affordable. Local transport authorities across the north-west have been allocated nearly £150 million for the 2025-26 financial year.

The Government are committed to improving transport across the north, including boosting rail connectivity from east to west. We are already taking forward the trans-Pennine route upgrade—TRU—which will improve rail performance and support growth and housing by reducing journey times and providing more passenger services on the line between Manchester and York. We are delivering the Manchester taskforce programme, which is central to the Government’s ambitious multibillion-pound rail investment across the north. As announced in the autumn Budget, we are maintaining momentum on Northern Powerhouse Rail by progressing planning and design works to support its future delivery.

On our strategic road network we are developing a five-year third road investment strategy that will cover 2026 to 2031. The RIS will be published before the end of 2025. Our vision is for a network that connects more people to more places, making our day-to-day journeys easier and simpler, and building a network that can attract investment, whether that is through boosting efficiency or unlocking land for development.

The integrated national transport strategy will be published this year and will set a long-term vision for transport in England, focusing on how transport should be designed, built and operated to better serve all the people who use it and enable them to live fulfilling lives. We will develop the strategy through collaborative and open engagement with our stakeholders and people who use transport.

It is impossible for me to cover every point raised today, but I will touch on a few. On Northern Rail, it has been made really clear to Northern’s management that the current performance is not acceptable. That is why Rail North Partnership, through which the Department for Transport and Transport for the North jointly manage Northern’s contract, issued it with a notice of breach of contract, which has required Northern to produce a detailed plan to improve its services.

On HS2, transport is an essential part of our mission to rebuild Britain, and I am committed to delivering infrastructure that works for the whole country and of course to improving rail connectivity across the midlands and the north. My ministerial colleagues and I are carefully reviewing the position we have inherited on HS2 and wider rail infrastructure.

On the previous Government’s commitments on investment, I will just remind the hon. Member for Broadland and Fakenham (Jerome Mayhew) about the £22 billion black hole. They left this Government to pick up the pieces.

[Jerome Mayhew]

Will the Minister give way?

[Simon Lightwood]

I will not give way.

We acknowledge that rates of step-free access remain low across Great Britain, which is why the Access for All programme is working to address that. In the Greater Manchester area—

[Tim Farron]

Will the Minister give way?

[Simon Lightwood]

I will not give way, because I have a lot of points to make, but I am happy to have a conversation with Members afterwards. In the Greater Manchester area, about 50% of stations already have step-free access, approximately double the national average. We remain committed to improving the accessibility of the railways and recognise the valuable social and economic benefits that that brings to communities. However, the programme continues to be heavily oversubscribed, so we welcome opportunities for external funding to improve the accessibility of the network.

The objective of the Treasury’s review of the Green Book is to understand whether it is being used in a way that ensures fair, objective and transparent appraisals of proposals outside London and the south-east of England. DFT officials are working closely with the Treasury on that review and will take forward any relevant actions following its conclusion.

I again thank my hon. Friend the Member for Leigh and Atherton very much for raising this important issue. I hope that I have been able to reassure her that the Government recognise the importance of transport connectivity across the north-west. That is why we are investing and that is why we are devolving to local leaders. I look forward to continuing to work with her and other hon. Members on this key issue.

10:57

[Jo Platt]

Thank you for chairing the debate, Dr Murrison. There is not much time left, so I will not go through everyone’s contribution, but I express thanks to everybody who attended and everybody who made such valid points about how we improve our transport infrastructure for the north-west. I just hope that as we go forward, we can all work together and speak as one voice, working across the parties and with our Minister and this Government, to get the improvements that we desperately need.

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this House has considered improving transport connectivity in the North West.