Northern Powerhouse Rail

Debate between Lisa Smart and Heidi Alexander

Wednesday 14th January 2026 Commons Chamber

[Heidi Alexander]

May I just pay tribute once again to my hon. Friend for campaigning for the Leamside line over a long time? I recall her excitement when we announced the extension of the Tyne and Wear metro to Washington as part of the spending review, and I look forward to working with her further as we look at the business case for reopening the Leamside line, which closed many decades ago.

[Lisa Smart (Hazel Grove) (LD)]

Safe, reliable and affordable railways are vital for economic growth in communities like mine. I welcome the Secretary of State’s statement, because for too long we have not seen that investment in our northern communities. For too long, our infrastructure has been neglected and, as a result, our northern communities have not been able to fulfil their potential. I will build on what some Greater Manchester colleagues have been asking about Manchester Piccadilly. Some of the enabling work around Ardwick and Ashburys would unlock improved services to communities like mine on the Rose Hill line, or maybe even a tram-train to Marple. How can the Secretary of State ensure that communities like mine can feed in, so that this project reaches its full potential and gets a 10 out of 10, rather than a mediocre “meh”?

[Heidi Alexander]

One reason we have taken our time to work with the local mayors is so that we can properly ensure that the improvements to inter-city connections that will be delivered through NPR can be integrated with local improvements. Mayors in the north of England have had a multibillion-pound settlement through transport for city regions funding. To unlock regeneration in many of the towns and cities with untapped potential, we need to that integration right.

HS2 Reset

Debate between Lisa Smart and Heidi Alexander

Wednesday 18th June 2025 Commons Chamber

[Heidi Alexander]

As I said in my statement, the Prime Minister has asked the Cabinet Secretary to investigate whether the James Stewart report raises any questions for the civil service or the wider public sector. My hon. Friend is completely right to highlight the point about contracts being signed with construction companies even before the scope of the works had been agreed. It is little wonder that the country has ended up paying more. We signed a contract with a company to deliver works, yet there was no clarity whatever about what work the Government wanted them to do. This is a dreadful and woeful failure of oversight by previous Government Ministers, and I will not allow that to happen on my watch.

[Lisa Smart (Hazel Grove) (LD)]

Before I was elected to this place, I was a member of HS2’s independent panel for the community and environment fund and business and local economy fund. The Secretary of State’s statement makes for pretty shocking reading. There is talk of fraud and shambolic mismanagement—things that should bring shame on everybody involved.

One of the problems with HS2 was always the name, which put the focus on speed, rather than capacity. My Hazel Grove constituents use the west coast main line, and they talk to me about the capacity problems that remain. Indeed, I see them every week when I come up and down to work. The Secretary of State says that she is not reinstating the line north of Birmingham. She also says that trans-Pennine work is under way. What specific work is being undertaken by her Department on capacity on the west coast main line north of Birmingham?

[Heidi Alexander]

I am aware that the Mayor of the West Midlands and the Mayor of Greater Manchester have put proposals to the Government on this issue. In the mid-2030s, we are likely to see severe capacity constraints between Birmingham and Manchester. We are reviewing those proposals, and I hope to be able to say more on them in the months ahead.