At the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester today, the Chancellor, Philip Hammond, announced a £400million government investment in new rail and road links in the North to connect cities which are not directly on the route of the new HS2, the Government’s flagship high speed rail project. An initial £300 million will be spent on rail inks improving connections between Liverpool, Manchester, Sheffield, Leeds and York and a further £100 million will be spent on 33 major new road schemes, including 10 in Yorkshire and the Humber, 10 in the North East and a further 13 in the North West. This is fantastic news. I have been campaigning for more funding for the North to redress the balance between spending in the North and the South to give the North the economic boost it needs. These new links will cut traffic congestion and journey times as well as attracting new job creating businesses and potential housing developments. Altogether this means that the Conservatives will have invested a record 13 billion in transport in the North by 2020.
