Northern Powerhouse Rail

Debate between Connor Naismith and Heidi Alexander

Wednesday 14th January 2026 Commons Chamber

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

Can I begin by expressing my sincere and enthusiastic thanks to the Secretary of State for today’s announcements? I have been campaigning, and some would say badgering Ministers, throughout my entire time in this place to address capacity challenges on the west coast main line arising from the steaming pile of mess left for this Government on HS2. I welcome the announcement that the Government intend to build a new rail line between Birmingham and Manchester, but following 14 years of mismanagement of projects such as this, how can the Secretary of State assure me and my constituents that these projects will actually be delivered, and how will they be insulated against the backwards, anti-growth, populist forces that we know would reverse these plans in a heartbeat?

[Heidi Alexander]

We are going to give the public the confidence that when it comes to rail infrastructure, we are spending taxpayers’ money wisely. We will learn from the mistakes of HS2 and make sure we do the work properly to start off with, so we are not wasting taxpayers’ money in the way that the previous Government did with their oversight of HS2.

Road and Rail Projects

Debate between Connor Naismith and Heidi Alexander

Tuesday 8th July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Heidi Alexander]

I would be very happy to ask my hon. Friend the Minister for the Future of Roads to take that meeting as I suspect that she will be closer to some of the detail of the work that National Highways is doing.

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

I welcome today’s announcements that will see improvements in the performance on the west coast main line, particularly as they come during the week where, in my constituency and in many others, we celebrated Crewe Day, which commemorates the anniversary almost 200 years ago when the first rail service passed through the now strategic rail hub of Crewe. But can the Secretary of State outline how this funding will be used to ensure that freight growth targets can be met on the west coast corridor, and tell us whether new routes, such as the midlands north-west rail link are being considered to support this ambition?

[Heidi Alexander]

I shall write to my hon. Friend about the detail of the midlands north-west rail link. As we establish Great British Railways, we will be placing a duty on the new organisation, which will be the publicly owned organisation to bring together the management of track and train, to increase the amount of freight that we transport on the railways. We do need to get lorries off the road and move more goods on the rail network. It is a strategic objective for me and my Department to make sure that we are maximising the amount of freight that we can transport on the rail network, while also delivering excellent passenger services.