Secretary of State – 18 August

Trade unions, government and businesses do not have to be at loggerheads. During the pandemic, this Government protected millions of jobs and tens of thousands of businesses with an economic package endorsed by unions and business groups. When P&O Ferries shamefully sacked 800 of their staff with no warning, unions, maritime businesses, and my department stepped in to defend affected workers, offer alternative jobs, and give seafarers the employment rights they deserve. And with our railways, I’ve welcomed the fantastic news that TSSA’s management grade members have accepted Network Rail’s reasonable and fair pay deal. This amounts to a 4% pay rise and increased job security for staff. It means that in the face of future strikes, we will still be able to run services for passengers whilst minimising disruption.

This Government is not anti-union; we’re anti-militancy. When unions work positively and productively with industry, agreements can be reached which benefit not just workers, but passengers and the wider network. That collaboration is needed now more than ever.  The railways face falling revenues and passenger numbers as well as an irreversible shift towards hybrid working. If the railways are to survive and thrive in this new normal, they must modernise. For example, Sunday services cannot be dependent on the goodwill of drivers to volunteer for shifts. Ticket offices that average one transaction per hour are a waste of resource. Track maintenance technology remains years behind other sectors, which is leading to avoidable delays. The TSSA deal means we’re a step closer to remedying these problems. But when presented with a similar pay deal, other unions didn’t even bother putting it to their members. Instead of good faith negotiation, we hear the threat of strikes. And what could be common ground quickly turns to scorched earth.

This hard-headedness is why the North will face another wave of strikes on the 18^th and 20^th August.  Avanti West Coast, Crosscountry, Hull Trains and LNER will be the operators impacted. Millions of passengers across the North will face disruption. The human costs of reckless industrial action are paid for by the hospital appointments missed, the businesses closed due to staff shortage, and the people having to use up their annual leave as they cannot get to work. But there are economic costs too. Yorkshire, God’s own country, is rightly a visitors’ paradise, but tourists will have no option but to cancel plans during the strikes. The Ebor Race festival, due to welcome 300,000 visitors, is just one of many events, from Premier League football to music concerts, that stand to lose out on paying customers. And yet, in the face of this bleak picture, West Yorkshire Mayor, Tracy Brabin, and South Yorkshire Mayor, Oliver Coppard, have been found wanting. They will not condemn the strike action, nor stand up for the millions that will face the consequences of our railways grinding to a halt.

Unbelievably, they do, however, claim that this Government is not investing enough in our railways. I would gently point them to the Integrated Rail Plan – which will see £96 billion invested into high speed rail, electrified lines and faster trains across the North. South Yorkshire alone is receiving £570 million from our sustainable transport settlements, which means more bus priority lanes in Sheffield and cycling and walking infrastructure in Barnsley. And because levelling up is also about devolving power, I’m delighted the newest devolution deal sees the creation of the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority. The region’s Mayor, when elected, will have over half a billion pounds to address local priorities including transport, education and affordable housing.

Rail strikes won’t work. With reform inevitable, industrial action will only cause more misery and exacerbate the cost of living squeeze many are facing. The TSSA deal shows that unions can reach agreement with employers; that compromise can be achieved for the greater good; that many millions of ordinary workers do not have to suffer from the militant tendencies of a few. I urge parties to come together to agree a new deal forward, so we can get on with building a railway network all of us can be proud of.

Secretary of State – 21st July

Four years ago, a World Cup Final between France and Croatia, taking place nearly 2000 miles away, brought train services across parts of the North to a standstill.

This absurd situation, where train operator Northern cancelled 170 services, was due to a century-old voluntary Sunday working practice. People’s ability to travel that Sunday relied on the goodwill of railway drivers to volunteer to do their job. And many of them opted to watch the football instead.

Many will agree this is a ridiculous way to run a railway in a modern, dynamic economy. And it’s not the only antiquated feature of today’s railways that I am determined to bin.

With only 1 in 8 tickets sold over a counter, I want to move staff from the office desk to the station platform, where they can better help customers. I want to drag track maintenance into the 21st century, to reduce delays for passengers and increase safety for workers. And, contrary to what some have claimed, I want a growing railway where workers receive a decent annual pay rise. We also have been clear that, under our reforms, any station which is currently staffed will remain so.

The truth is, post-Covid, the railways are in a perilous state. Revenues are down nearly 40% and passenger numbers have fallen 15%. The industry needs to change to survive.

But not everyone agrees, especially the Mayor of Greater Manchester. He came out in full support for the disruptive strike action which recently paralysed most of the North, hurting the very people he was elected to serve. We heard stories of holidaymakers stranded at Manchester Airport unable to get home, hospital appointments missed, and one parent who faced a journey of 180 miles so her sons could take their GCSEs. It begs the question – whose side is the Mayor on? And with more strikes in the offing, I urge union leaders to reconsider. Nurses, teachers and police officers across the North can only dream of the salaries enjoyed by train drivers who, despite the challenges facing their industry, are expecting inflationary pay rises on salaries often reaching £70k.

What Mr Burnham and his union chums fail to see is that after £16 billion of taxpayer support, and with the rapid growth of hybrid working, the status quo cannot hold. This Government was elected to be bold and reforming, and that’s what we’re doing. We’re turning the current railway model on its head. Great British Railways will be the guiding mind the industry has long called for. We’re replacing the broken franchising model and getting a grip on spiralling costs.  A ticketing revolution will see simpler and more flexible fares, digital ticketing and increased pay as you go services. And we’ll build on the success of the Great British Rail Sale, which sold over one million tickets and saved passengers £7 million, to get more people back on board.

The alternative options aren’t viable: continuously increasing fares to fund the railways or endless taxpayer support, both of which won’t wash with the public. So, I urge the Mayor to prioritise passengers, not the pickets, and support real solutions, not strikes.

But a reformed and more passenger-focussed railway is just one part of our modernisation drive. Our £96 billion Integrated Rail Plan will transform the east-west journeys that really matter for northern passengers. It will reduce journey times between major cities, electrify the Transpennine and Midland Main lines, and increase capacity for passengers and freight. We’re also re-opening lines and stations closed during the Beeching cuts – including the Barrow Line between Sheffield and Chesterfield and Ferryhill Station in Country Durham. And thanks to a £1 billion investment in digital signalling, we’re bringing faster, safer and more regular trains to the millions of passengers that use the East Coast Mainline.

Modernisation shouldn’t be a scary word.  It’s at the very heart of levelling up. Manchester is now a thriving cultural and media hub. Teesside is fast becoming a centre for green hydrogen power. And new freeports in Humber and Liverpool will transform these areas into modern engines for economic growth. The North’s economy has an eye to the future; it cannot be served by a railway, nor elected Mayors, stuck in the past.

Secretary of State – 8th June

Social media has improved our lives in so many ways. But it has also taught us that having easy access to a vast supply of information doesn’t necessarily make us better informed. The internet is awash with false claims and inaccurate stories which people believe if they read them often enough. Psychologists call this the ‘illusory truth effect’. The rest of us call it fake news.

Counteracting fake news was one of the reasons I started this blog in the first place. I wanted to dispel some incorrect assumptions about transport policy that have misled people in the past. I was so accustomed to reading about the Government’s apparent failure to back transport projects in the North that I could understand why so many people believed it.

Take regional investment, for example. The prevailing view has always been that Government transport spending is far higher in the South East than the North. Well, new data from my department, paints a rather different picture.

Of the near £60 billion total that we are spending in England over the next three years, the biggest slice (£10.4 billion) is in fact going to the North West. That’s £1.2 billion more than is designated for London. The North West is also first in the country when measuring spend per head of the population – at £465, compared with £332 in London and £280 in the South East. When we analyse the three ‘super-regions’ that together make up England, investment per person will be highest in the North (£368), followed by the Midlands and East of England (£311), and the South (£299).

I don’t deny that historically, London has received significantly more transport investment than cities in the North. But these latest figures prove that under this Government, a fundamental shift in transport spending priorities is taking place. We are not just talking about levelling up – we’re actually delivering it.

I suspect many people in the North will have read about the opening of the Elizabeth Line last week – or Crossrail, as it’s better known – and seen it as further proof of London-centric transport bias. We certainly supported the project. But the vast majority of the funding for the line came not from central government, but from London itself and was planned over a couple of decades. 

Today by far the largest financial commitment my department is making to a single infrastructure programme is £96 billion for the Integrated Rail Plan– every penny of which will be used to transform train travel across the North and Midlands.

But as I’ve stressed many times, smaller transport improvements are just as crucial for the North as we build back from COVID. On May 24th, I chaired a meeting of the Northern Transport Acceleration Council (NTAC) to help progress many schemes which will improve transport across the region.

Looking at a range of projects that will help improve connectivity in the North we also discussed the impressive growth in electric vehicle sales in the region too. Last year, almost 75,000 EVs were sold across the region, more than doubling the registrations of the previous year. This huge growth was boosted by the continuing roll-out of a charging infrastructure to make ‘range anxiety’ a thing of the past. By 2030, the UK expects to reach 300,000 public EV chargepoints – five times the number of fuel pumps currently on our roads.

The North, where the industrial revolution began, is now helping lead the nation in decarbonisation and doing away with the notion that EVs and the benefits of chargepoints are confined to the streets of London.

I will very happily defend our record on northern transport against any government from the past 50 years. No matter what dubious news you read online, the fact is that we are overhauling the way we invest in our regions to reverse a south-east transport bias that has endured for decades. Not an illusion – just a plain fact.

Secretary of State Grant Shapps: 17 May, 2022 

In 1285 in Ockham, Surrey, a monk called William was born. The humble theologian proffered that “Entities are not to be multiplied without necessity.” In plain English, this defines that for the most part, the solution to a problem is usually the simplest one.

For many people across this country, getting on with simplifying journeys was one of the reasons why they backed this Government in such huge numbers. Connecting people and the places they frequent every day is crucial. It’s the difference between being able to pop out to pick up some milk and having to plan your day around your travel arrangements.

Well, we’re in government to get people where they need to go, and to make those trips as green and easy as possible. I’ve explained elsewhere why we’re pressing ahead with ambitious plans for roads, transport decarbonisation, walking and cycling. I’ve talked at length about our largest ever £96 billion rail investment to transform train connections across the North and Midlands. And recently, I set out how we’d be spending £7 billion to level up transport services around the country, in particular, buses.

Buses are the beating heart of our transport system. The service that most of us rely on to make the regular journeys that matter most in our lives, also happen to be the simplest. Before the pandemic, we were taking 4 billion bus journeys a year – more than twice as many as trains. But I am all too aware that the quality of bus provision across England varies markedly. In London, Harrogate and Brighton for example, passengers enjoy fast, frequent, clean buses in dedicated lanes. Operators and local transport authorities work in harmony, and as a result, huge numbers of car owners have gone back to taking the bus. But in far too many cities and towns, services are poor and patronage is declining. We are absolutely determined to reverse that decline, so in future years the bus can become the natural choice for the vast majority of local journeys in and around our towns and cities.

The programme we have just announced will see 31 counties, city regions and unitary authorities receiving funding to vastly improve local bus services. Including earlier awards, just under two-thirds of England’s population outside London will receive new investment to make buses more frequent, more reliable, cheaper and greener.

Areas set to benefit from Bus Service Improvement investment include Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire and the North East, which together have been awarded almost £330 million. York, Warrington, Blackburn with Darwen and North East Lincolnshire will also receive a share to boost local buses.

On top of this funding, I confirmed £5.7 billion for England’s eight city regions – including five in the North. Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, Tees Valley and Liverpool will get funding to level-up bus, tram, walking and cycling networks. The money will help deliver, amongst other things, a new mass transit network in West Yorkshire, and a flat fare on buses in Greater Manchester.

Predictably, some northern mayors complained that the funding wasn’t as much as they’d asked for. I understand they are fighting for as much investment as possible for their communities – indeed, this is one of the reasons why we created the new Mayoral Authorities. But they must recognise that we are providing £3 billion of new money for buses over the course of this parliament – a huge sum at a tough time for public finances – and we have carried through our promise to fund those areas with the best plans for their bus networks.

Although Andy Burnham in Greater Manchester says he wants more money, we’re delivering £94.8 million for the region’s Bus Service Improvement Plan, and over £1 billion to help him boost local transport, including a new interchange in Bury, new electric buses, new bus lanes and junctions, and improvements to fares, ticketing and bus passenger information.

Secretary of State 4 April

Driffield in the East Riding of Yorkshire has a long and proud military history. Its airfield was used by the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War to combat Zeppelin airships. In the 1930s, it became a base for Bomber Command, and at the height of the Battle of Britain, it was the first British airfield to suffer concentrated formation German bombing when it was simultaneously attacked by around 50 Junkers Ju 88 aircraft. The damage was so severe that the airfield was put out of action for the rest of the year.

Today, in a very different way, the town is once again rising to the challenges of war. Earlier this month, a Driffield household was among the first in the country to welcome a Ukrainian family fleeing Putin’s brutal invasion. Since then, people across the North of England have responded magnificently to the crisis by offering to open their homes to thousands of Ukrainians.

When we see the sort of disaster that is unfolding in Ukraine, we often reflect on our own problems here in the UK as modest in comparison. And rightly so. These terrible events have global ramifications, producing consequences that affect our very way of life, forcing us to adjust and accommodate as we stand up to our international obligations. The actions we are taking to sanction Putin’s regime, coming on top of COVID and sharply rising global energy prices, have implications for everyone in the UK.

The biggest concern – as it is for countries around the world – is the increasing cost of living. That is why in his spring statement last week, the Chancellor took action to help lift the burden on families, and make the largest cuts to personal taxes in a quarter of a century. His package included £9 billion to help 28 million households with their energy bills, the biggest ever cut to fuel duty, and a national insurance threshold change so working people can earn higher wages without paying tax.

We can only afford these benefits now because we have a strong and stable economy. The UK has the fastest growing economy among G7 nations, and unemployment is already back to the very low levels we saw before the pandemic. Helping people and businesses through the pandemic has cost the country an eye-watering £400 billion. So there are huge pressures on the public purse. But we will continue to help hard-pressed people cope through these difficult times.

Making the nation resilient to things like the rising cost of living will only come if we create opportunity for all, so that we have an economy that doesn’t require short term fixes and increased borrowing. Levelling up our country has always been a priority and will help make the whole country futureproof to global incidents, the ripples of which can be felt in how we afford to heat homes or travel to work.  The spring statement confirmed the second round of the £4.8 billion Levelling Up Fund, which will continue our programme of investment in local infrastructure. The first £1.7 billion round resulted in 27 successful bids from all over the North. In fact more projects from the North West won funding than any other region of the country. I noted that Andy Burnham said the Spring Statement did nothing for those families in the North without a car but as part of this fund we’ve already seen the Liverpool City Region receive nearly £38 million to deliver three high quality active travel projects, improving sustainability and clean access to jobs. In Leeds we’ll also fund £20 million towards building a multifunctioning orbit road that connects pedestrians, cyclists and buses to communities and improving air quality for all. Not just drivers.

Now, with the launch of the second round, we will prioritise projects based on three main themes: local transport, town centre & regeneration, and investment in culture and heritage. In contrast with the major infrastructure programmes we are delivering, the Levelling Up Fund focuses on smaller, but equally important investments. For example, transport schemes to benefit could be bridge repairs, local road works, or bus priority improvements. More information will be published soon enough to help MPs and their constituencies supply the most ambitious plans possible, with a series of teach-ins giving authorities all vital support during this process.

Tragically, Putin’s barbaric destruction of his neighbour shows no sign of diminishing. We stand unflinchingly with Ukraine, and will do everything in our power to help them – whether that’s seizing planes and superyachts, or welcoming Ukrainian evacuees into out homes. But we will also honour our pledges to help the British people with the rising cost of living, and to continue levelling up our country.

Secretary of State – 16th March 2022

In six months’ time, Yorkshire will celebrate the 150^th anniversary of a little-known event that was pivotal in shaping our modern democracy. In August 1872, voters at the Pontefract by-election became the first in British parliamentary history to cast their ballots in secret, in a bid to stamp out the the intimidation and bribery that had become prevalent under the previous open voting system. The experiment was judged a success, and Pontefract changed polling forever.

A century and a half later, Yorkshire is once again at the forefront of democratic change, as we decentralise government and give more decision-making powers to the North. Following last year’s devolution deal, which paved the way for a new West Yorkshire mayor and Combined Authority, we are now moving thousands of civil servants out of London to new locations, and one of the biggest beneficiaries is Leeds.

Alongside the opening of the new National Infrastructure Bank near Leeds rail station, seven government departments and agencies have moved operations to the city over the past year. I’m particularly proud that the Department for Transport has helped lead that migration into the new hub at Wellington Place, Leeds.

These are not mere outposts for Whitehall departments. They are tangible evidence that government is no longer a London-centric organisation, but a truly national one. Not only will they bring the business of government closer to Northern communities and businesses; they will help government better understand the issues and opportunities the North faces.

From senior civil servants and apprentices to ex-private-sector staff and recent graduates, there’s a diverse range of officials based at the site, with the vast majority living in or near Leeds. As well as housing civil servants, ministers will also use the office. Indeed, my colleague Andrew Stephenson, Minister of State at the DfT, spent a week working from the Leeds premises at the end of February.

Despite the best efforts of Storm Franklin, which not only affected transport across Yorkshire, but also prevented some DfT staff from getting into the Leeds office, Andrew’s week was a great success. In fact it began with a trip to Kirkstall to see how the rail network was coping with the bad weather.

During the week, Minister Stephenson confirmed the Government’s determination to bring HS2 trains to Leeds, and link with a new mass transit system for the region. We’ve committed £100 million to fund work on the best solution for Leeds and Yorkshire, and we’ll have more details to announce soon.

Among the many transport schemes he visited across the region, he saw how £317 million from the Transforming Cities Fund is being used to provide greener alternatives to car journeys in the Leeds City Region. He visited the Hope Valley Line running between Manchester and Sheffield, which will be transformed by our Integrated Rail Plan, announced late last year. His morning commute took him through Skipton station, which is benefitting from a £7.8 million upgrade. And he met with several businesses helping to deliver HS2, taking the opportunity to present one employee with the “Driller of the Year Award” for his work on the new high speed railway.

With so much infrastructure work underway or planned for the future, we need a new generation of engineers, designers and technicians to help us deliver the improvements that transport users need. So Minister Stephenson also paid a visit to Leeds College of Building South Bank Campus, to see the excellent work going on to prepare students at all levels for careers in construction and built environment, including apprenticeships.

The Yorkshire Post was right to describe Andrew Stephenson’s Leeds week as “symbolic” in a comment piece on February 23^rd. As the first such visit by a transport minister, it was an important statement of intent. But it’s only the start. Soon, it will be seen as perfectly normal for ministers to work from offices around the country, and become better representatives of the people we serve as a result. I can only hope that it is the beginning of a trend that proves to be permanent, and as enduringly successful as that first secret ballot in Pontefract all those decades ago.

Secretary of State – 23th February 2022

Oscar Wilde famously defined a cynic as someone who “knows the price of everything, and the value of nothing.” In other words, some people will find fault for fault’s sake, deliberately overlooking the benefits so they can carry on having an unearned grumble.

It’s an adage which has sprung to mind a lot recently, particularly when it comes to our bold plans to level up Britain. Every time we’ve announced an investment or initiative over the past few months, it’s been met by a small circle of griping cynics keen to distort and undermine the facts in the media.

Take the Levelling-up White Paper we published at the start of February. This important document sets a path for the rebalancing of our economy over the next decade, reversing generations of rising inequality across our country. But true to form, Liverpool mayor Steve Rotheram bitterly described it as “mission impossible”, with “thin gruel on offer”. This was the same Steve Rotheram who late last year called our £96 billion Integrated Rail Plan for the North and Midlands “cheap and nasty”, demeaning the biggest single government investment ever made in our railway.

In fact, we are doing more than any government in living memory to empower, reconnect and level up the North.

Take devolution, for example. We are overseeing the biggest shift in decision-making away from Whitehall in modern times, a move that has seen the creation of Metro Mayors across the North – including, ironically, Steve Rotheram. The new White Paper commits us to more devolved Mayors, so that by 2030, every part of the North that wants one will have a London-style deal giving them far more control and autonomy.

Bear in mind that it is just over two years since Boris Johnson made his first speech as Prime Minister and put levelling-up at the heart of his mission for government – two years in which we’ve experienced an unprecedented economic shock costing the country hundreds of billions of pounds. Yet our commitment to levelling and linking up Britain remains undimmed.

That is why we are overhauling local public transport across the North, so it too operates like the successful model employed in London. That is why we’re investing £3bn in better bus services over this parliament, including simpler fares and integrated ticketing. And that is why we announced over £700 million for Liverpool City Region’s local transport network in last autumn’s Budget.

Liverpool is one of eight new freeports we’ve announced across the UK, which will see a new free trade zone for the Merseyside region that’s expected to create 14,000 jobs and boost the economy by £850 million. The city will also benefit from £20 million awarded through the Levelling Up Fund to regenerate the Docks area.

And yet Birkenhead MP Mick Whitley joined the chorus of sour hecklers, claiming that a “real levelling up strategy” would mean “investing serious money in new industries – green industries that could create well paid jobs”.

Well Mick, that’s precisely what we are doing.

Take the £2.8 billion we’re investing to speed up the electric car revolution, and support jobs in clean motoring. We’re working hand in hand with carmakers to ensure we meet the 2030 deadline for ending sales of new cars and vans powered by petrol and diesel.

This has helped secure thousands of jobs at Vauxhall’s Ellesmere Port plant and Jaguar Land Rover at Halewood. Last year Vauxhall’s parent company Stellantis secured the future of Ellesmere Port with plans to make it a dedicated electric car factory, producing vehicles for Opel, Peugeot and Citroen, as well as Vauxhall. And Jaguar Land Rover Halewood is undergoing a similar transformation, creating skilled jobs in new green industry. This is just one example of many green industries we are backing across the North.

No matter what critics say, these past two years have seen a radical shift in the way Britain is governed, and the way we invest in our regions. Levelling up our country and realising the full potential of the North remains this Government’s defining mission, and we won’t be dragged down or distracted from delivering it.

Secretary of State  – 17 February 2022

In just eight years’ time we will celebrate a British first – the 200^th anniversary of the world’s first intercity rail service between Manchester and Liverpool, an event which ushered in the railway age and changed transport for ever.

The huge success of this first line sparked a frenzied period of construction, “Railway Mania”, particularly in the industrial North. By the 1860s, the North West rail network familiar to passengers today was largely complete. But the breakneck expansion of the 19^th century contrasted starkly with the stagnation and decline of the 20th.

The first rail network in the world is now the oldest. Certainly, we’ve upgraded lines and squeezed more capacity out of existing routes,  but we haven’t built any new lines, in the North, for more than a hundred years.

It is this chequered history of our railways in the 20th Century that puts our current ambitions into perspective. There simply has not been a programme of rail investment in the UK on anything like the scale of our Integrated Rail Plan in living memory.

This government has committed £96 billion to high speed and regional rail links over the coming years.

With HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail, we have embarked on a new Railway Age. If ever proof were needed of this government’s commitment to levelling up the country and re-energising the North and Midlands, this is it.

Think of it: £96 billion. More than ten times the amount we spent on the 2012 Olympics.

And the epicentre of this investment is the North West, with HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail linking the region with London, the Midlands and Yorkshire, slashing journey times and transforming capacity.

And there will be new stations at Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Airport to welcome passengers.

Just last week, we introduced the bill for the next phase of HS2 between Crewe and Manchester. Not only will it realise a great prospect for Crewe, with a new HS2 hub, but it will also see five to seven HS2 trains per hour, ferrying family, friends and, most importantly, opportunities to and from the North. Journey times from Manchester to London will be slashed by almost an hour, and trips to Birmingham from Manchester will be up to 45 minutes faster.

But even more importantly, HS2 will transform capacity on routes south, relieving pressure on the West Coast Mainline. The high-speed line, one of Europe’s biggest construction projects, will create some 17,500 jobs in the North during its creation. Crewe is a historic railway town but as a hub joining HS2 with the West Coast Mainline this junction’s best days are yet to come

I was pleased to see the bill getting the support it deserves from many in the North West business community. Figures from Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership and Cheshire East Council all welcomed the plans, citing the prospects for economic growth, increased business investment, regeneration, and levelling up.

They were mirrored in the Midlands too. “It will give the West Midlands and North West the fast, reliable rail connectivity these regions so desperately need. What’s important now is that we seize this momentum to accelerate job creation, investment and regeneration that makes this investment so transformative,” said Maria Machancoses, chief executive of Midlands Connect, who also described it as a watershed moment in HS2’s development.

After the reaction of some political opponents in recent weeks, complaining that a £96bn programme isn’t enough – accusations that I’ve responded to in my last two blogs – I shouldn’t have been surprised to see Andy Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester, joining in the chorus of doomsters this week. But I must admit, I was staggered by what he said.

Did he really call on the Government to show “ambition for the North”? Apparently, yes, as it was reported widely.

I answer Mr Burnham here: is it showing lack of ambition to build Britain’s first high speed rail network, the first new national line for well over a century, with two high speed stations located in his home city? Is it unambitious to deliver a £96bn tailored rail plan for the North and Midlands, as we slash journey times from Manchester to Leeds to around 33 minutes, and double the number of seats between Manchester and London?

What about the additional 400 miles of railway we committed to upgrade in the Integrated Rail Plan, Andy? This includes digital signalling, bigger, better stations and expanding two track sections into three and four track.

Or the revised construction schedule aimed at delivering benefits far sooner than was originally envisaged?

And what about the extra 180 miles of railway infrastructure we’re electrifying, on top of the extensive electrification we’ve already delivered in the North West? Labour managed barely 63 miles of electrification in 13 years!

Peter Parker, head of British Rail, once remarked:  “The world is a branch line of the pioneering Liverpool to Manchester run.” 

He was right. The North West was first. But the world also caught up and overtook us.

The people of the North West do not deserve to be left behind. They deserve the best.

I’m proud to be the Transport Secretary who is finally doing something about it, bringing the birthplace of the 19th Century railway into the 21st.

Secretary of State Grant Shapps: 19 January, 2022

Dealing with criticism is part and parcel of running Britain’s railways. People hold passionate views about how train services can be managed and improved, and I welcome all opinions, as long as they are informed and constructive. However, when they are spectacularly wrong, politically motivated, or likely to mislead the public, then it’s my job to set the record straight.

Last month I responded to the absurd comments of Steve Rotheram, mayor of Liverpool, who described our new £96 billion Integrated Rail Plan (IRP) as “cheap and nasty”, and Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, who claimed it was “crumbs from the table.” I thought it important to remind passengers that the IRP is the single biggest rail investment in UK history, and it’s completely focused on bringing benefits to the North and Midlands. Those remarks demean a project which is critical to the North’s future, and to attracting investment in the region’s economy.

Then last week I read that Transport for the North is warning passengers that IRP will cause widespread disruption on the rail network for the next 10-15 years. This time, at least, there is some factual basis for the criticism. Yes, when you spend £96 billion, build 110 miles of new high speed line, electrify a further 180 miles of track, and extensively upgrade 400 miles of other routes, then I think the travelling public understands there may be some disruption involved.

But I want passengers to know that the Integrated Rail Plan is intended to minimise disruption to communities, and deliver benefits as fast as possible. The old blueprint drawn up by TfN, would have meant more disruption to communities and businesses in the middle of Manchester, Warrington and Bradford – and indeed through South Yorkshire. So please, let’s get things into proportion. We are already getting on with the task at hand, taking advantage of the quiet period over Christmas to take forward work on the Transpennine Route and the Midland Main Line.

Despite this, South Yorkshire Mayor Dan Jarvis decided to ratchet up the rhetoric by saying: “What we’re facing in the North is years of chaos and delay on our railway network because of a complete failure to invest in new lines and because of the Government’s attempt to do everything on the cheap.”

No Dan. What we’re seeing is the first integrated and committed rail investment plan for the North of England since the Victorian era – the first time any modern government has taken action to reverse decades of declining train services across the North. And not just between major Northern cities. The work will double or even treble capacity on many key routes, radically improving journeys for people in towns like Wakefield, Dewsbury, Huddersfield and Doncaster. South Yorkshire will see the same HS2 service it was always expecting – with earlier benefits from the Midland Main Line electrification.

And we will continue with other ambitious transport plans in the North. Last week saw the completion of the £161 million upgrade to Leeds Station, the first phase of a bigger programme to create a thriving transport hub for the city. Among the improvements are new tracks, a new concourse and longer platforms, so that more services with extra seats can be introduced, together with a more spacious and modern station. Once Northern Powerhouse Rail is built trains will link Leeds with Manchester in just 33 minutes, saving 22 minutes on today’s journey. The trip to Birmingham will be almost half an hour quicker.

We have also announced that the new National Infrastructure Centre will be based in Leeds, as part of a historic move to base thousands more government jobs outside London. The National Infrastructure Commission will join the headquarters of the UK Infrastructure Bank which opened in Leeds last summer, and the DfT’s Northern hub in the city, which will be created by 2023. With so many projects under development in the region, the new Centre will be pivotal in developing new infrastructure, and bringing investment to the North.

Frankly, the irrational comments of a few people seeking to undermine Government investment in the North will make no difference to their success. We are utterly committed to levelling up, and that’s what we’ll deliver.

Secretary of State Grant Shapps: 22 December, 2021 

When our Integrated Rail Plan came out last month, it set two records. The first was for the amount of public money spent on railways – a whopping £96 billion – every penny of it being spent in the Midlands and North, supporting connectivity and creating new links regionally and to London. The second record was for political rhetoric, as some political opportunists competed to trash the IRP in the most over-the-top ways they could possibly dream up.

So a package worth £96 billion was described by Steve Rotheram, the mayor of Liverpool city region, as “cheap and nasty” and by Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, as “crumbs from the table.” If Sir Keir thinks £96 billion is crumbs, I’d worry how he’d ever deliver for taxpayers across the country.

We can’t spend all our money on railways, so not everyone got everything they wanted. But it was factually wrong for certain mayors and naysayers to condemn the IRP as merely “minor upgrades to the existing network.”

It includes 110 miles of new-build high-speed line, 180 miles of new electrification, a new mass transit system for West Yorkshire, and almost 400 miles of far-from-minor line upgrades: digital signalling, three and four tracking of two-track stretches, bigger stations, power and speed upgrades, and freight enhancements to take thousands of lorries off the roads.

Now, arriving right on schedule, we’ve introduced a new direct service from London to Middlesbrough using gleaming new trains which utilise electric wiring for a greener journey. It’s great news for the environment, pushes on with our pledge to level up, and is a major boost for this great northern region.

It’s not the only bit of good news for the North East either, but follows hot on the tail of news of 2,500 jobs with rolling stock contracts being announced for both Hitachi and Alstom, delivering coveted opportunities at their bases in Newton Aycliffe and Litchurch Lane, respectively. It’s these kinds of investments in the North and the Midlands that make gloomy coverage of the IRP so disingenuous.

In almost every case it will deliver the same, similar or better journey times across the Pennines, and to London, as the original plans. With the new lines, and the widening and digital resignalling of the existing ones, it will double or treble capacity.

Yet all this was described by one columnist as “the 21st century equivalent of the Beeching line closures,” and by Steve Rotheram as “a service that could have been promoted by Gladstone in the Victorian era.” But these doom mongers are wrong. Did the Victorians get you from Leeds to Manchester in 33 minutes?

As the dust settles, though, it’s clear that the fury of some in politics and the media is simply not shared by communities right across the North and the Midlands. Big-city politicians may have become advocates for high-speed rail above all else. But by more than six to one, polling shows that Northern voters prioritise better local rail or bus services over new high-speed lines.

The IRP, unlike the old plans, gives you both. That means it will be better for everywhere, not just the largest cities. The old plans meant places like Wakefield, Huddersfield, Dewsbury and Doncaster would have seen no real improvements, and in some cases their services would have gotten worse! As you may not have read in the media coverage, the political leaders of several of those places welcomed the IRP despite the protestations of their relative parties.

Our plans also mean improvements will be much quicker to begin. High-speed rail lines would not have reached the North until the 2040s – so those demanding we stick to the old plans were effectively condemning the North to get nothing for twenty years.

That being said, work on the first of our major upgrades – to the Trans-Pennine Main Line – has already begun! Preparatory and resilience work at the far east and west ends of the route, York and Manchester respectively are well underway. Steelwork for overhead lines have been erected to enable electrification all while bridge reconstruction, track renewal and resignalling works taking place. We will continue to work over the festive period to help deliver frequent and fast trains, line speed increases and the performance improvements that these Northern communities deserve.

Some have said that with passenger numbers still well below their pre-covid levels, and many other calls on spending, we should not invest in the railways. We utterly disagree. At a time of deep challenge for rail, the IRP is the largest-ever vote of confidence by government in the railway. That is why some of the reaction to it was, at best, ungenerous. In the end, though, it is delivery which will count, and we are happy to be judged on that.

Secretary of State Grant Shapps: 06 November, 2021

The North-South divide – a concept that captivates this country – may be older than many people think. According to a new school of thought, it’s another thing we owe to the Romans.

Preferring a warmer climate and easy trade links to the Continent, Roman legions quickly favoured the Southern regions of Britannia. An extreme proponent of this view was the sixth century historian Procopius, who declared it “impossible” for people to exist beyond Hadrian’s Wall due to “pestilential air,” concluding that, if a man were to cross, “he dies straight away.”

I suspect Procopius packed poorly for a Northumbrian winter.

Instead, it is perhaps the most enduring legacy of that civilisation, the Roman road system, that reinforced the prosperity divide. Then, as now, transport links were one of the most effective catalysts of economic growth. London and the South were best served by the emerging road network, and they have held on to that advantage ever since.

I would never blame the Romans, but as a Government we are focused on reversing decades of underinvestment in the North’s transport network. Our aim is to create a more equal and balanced Britain, not by levelling down the south east, but levelling up the North – and though we’ve invested £29bn in the North’s transport network so far, we’re clear we can go further.

That’s why soon we’ll publish our Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline, which will showcase our determination to deliver transformative change to rail journeys, particularly across the midlands and the north.

It includes vital projects like the Transpennine Route Upgrade, which recently received an additional £317m of investment to boost punctuality, reliability and connectivity for passengers between York, Leeds and Manchester, and the £78 million electrification of the Bolton to Wigan route, enabling longer electric trains with more seats to run on the Greater Manchester network, improving services for passengers and reducing the railway’s carbon footprint.

And the Integrated Rail Plan will shortly set out how we will ensure that major rail investments in the North and Midlands will work together to deliver better connectivity for the benefit of passengers now, and for generations to come.

The Pipeline and the IRP are just a couple of parts of the biggest ever investment programme in the North’s railways over the next decade.

I’ve worked with the Chancellor to ensure his latest Budget sets out investment increases for transport across the North, including road, tram, bus and cycle schemes. Among the highlights was a raft of London-style transport settlements in Northern city regions. Investment totalling around £3.5 billion will help boost services in Greater Manchester, Liverpool, West and South Yorkshire and the Tees Valley.

The Chancellor and I have also worked together to announce funding to help progress the restoration of passenger rail routes lost to the Beeching cuts of the 1960s and 1970s. They include the Don Valley line between Sheffield and Stockbridge in Yorkshire, and the Stockport to Ashton line in the north west.

And just as crucial as investment to improve public transport is the need to protect infrastructure from the threat of flooding, particularly as we head into winter. Earlier this week National Highways announced the award of £420,000 for innovative schemes in Yorkshire and the north west to reduce flood risks around vulnerable sections of road.

Known as Natural Flood Management, these 13 schemes aim to slow or store water in the landscape by emulating or enhancing natural processes. Measures include working with farmers and landowners to build storage ponds, plant woodlands and hedgerows, and construct ‘leaky dams’ which are natural barriers that regulate the flow of surface water run-off.

We can’t correct the historic disparity in just one parliament. But we can lay the foundation for a fairer, more balanced economy by prioritising investment in Northern transport. As this blog marks it’s one year anniversary, I hope they have shown – and will continue to demonstrate – how committed we are to that programme.

At the very least, we’ll drive for more fairness and positivity than Procopius delivered.

Secretary of State Grant Shapps: 23 October 2021

Is it possible that Northumberland – the cradle of George Stephenson’s ingenious railway, Josephine Butler’s tenacious suffrage, and the prodigious talent of the Charlton brothers – can also claim to be the home of climate activism?

We all know of Northumberland’s beautiful scenery, and the region’s deep affinity with our natural world. It’s little surprise that the architect of the English Garden, Capability Brown, or chronicler of our native birds, Thomas Bewick, hailed from here.

But in 1873 the Natural History Society of Northumberland, Durham and Newcastle upon Tyne published one of the earliest warnings of environmental harm. Cataloguing the ‘remarkable’ trees of the region, it details the impact of chemical pollution on nature, and sounds the alarm on the dangers of unchecked industrialisation on our planet.

Next week our country has the privilege of hosting COP26, the biggest environmental conference in UK history, when leaders and officials from almost every country on Earth will gather in Glasgow to focus on one overriding objective: agree a solution to climate change.

The stakes couldn’t be higher. On their current trajectory, global efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will fall well short of levels needed to address rising temperatures. If we are to limit those rises to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels – as agreed at the last conference in Paris six years ago – we must halve worldwide emissions in this decade.

We should summon the spirit of Northumberland’s pioneering naturalists. If the problems were clear to our forefathers in 1873, then it’s abundantly clear that we have acted too slowly. Nothing must distract us from tackling climate change as a matter of supreme urgency.

We must put the world on an irreversible course towards decarbonisation. That’s why the UK was the first major economy to legally commit to net zero by 2050. It’s also why we published a comprehensive UK Transport Decarbonisation Plan earlier this year, putting the industry on a pathway to net zero emissions by the middle of the century. And it’s why this week we set out a landmark Net Zero Strategy to unlock £90 billion in private investment and create 440,000 green jobs by 2030.

I know these huge figures can seem dizzying. People rightly want to know what they mean for local communities, such as those in Northumberland.

First of all, they present an incredible opportunity. The very substance of our economy is shifting as the shoots of emerging green industries begin to replace jobs in older industries. Soon it will be changing faster and more radically than at any time since the Victorian era, and the North is already playing a leading role in that transformation.

Take the Port of Tyne, for example. Once the home of shipbuilding and coal exporting, it is now one of the winners of the recent £23m Government-funded Clean Maritime Demonstration Competition. The “Clean Tyne” project aims to create a blueprint for decarbonising our ports, and is being led by a joint venture bringing in expertise from across the North East, including Siemens, Newcastle University, the Local Enterprise Partnership and an accelerator called the Connected Places Catapult.

Another great example is the North Sea Link, the world’s longest under-sea electricity cable, transferring green power between Norway and Blyth, which began operating at the beginning of the month. The developers of this pioneering project estimate that the North Sea Link will help the UK reduce carbon emissions by 23 million tonnes over the next decade. Once it’s fully up to speed, it will serve up to 1.4 million homes with electricity.

It’s a brilliant piece of engineering, and fiendishly clever. Because green sources of energy, like hydropower in Norway and wind power in the UK, are subject to changing weather conditions, the new cable will allow this country to export renewable energy when wind power is high, or import energy from Norway when we need it and their hydropower stations are more productive.

The Nissan car plant in Sunderland is another example of how a traditional industry in the North East is changing. Built in the 1980s, it has produced millions of petrol and diesel engine cars. But now it is moving to manufacturing zero carbon electric cars in preparation for 2030, when new petrol and diesel cars and vans will no longer be sold in this country.

This week the Government committed an additional £620 million to support the UK’s transition to electric vehicles, on top of £1.9 billion we announced in last year’s Spending Review. The additional funding will support the further rollout of charging infrastructure, with a particular focus on local street charging, and targeted plug-in vehicle grants.

But repositioning our economy for this new green age isn’t just about big business. It’s also about taking care of our local environment with new technology, through projects like the National Trust’s “LiDAR” aerial mapping scheme.

Funded by Government, this has enabled the Trust to study the famous Wallington Estate in Northumberland, uncovering a wealth of lost trees and archaeological features. With the mapping complete, work can now start to plant 75,000 native trees to restore the beauty of the estate, reverse declines in wildlife, and capture more carbon. The survey has also revealed 120 new archaeological features dating back to 2000BC – a huge success in preserving Northumberland’s rich culture and heritage.

It shows that Northumberland remains at the forefront of the fight to protect and preserve our outstanding natural beauty. As we approach COP26, we should take inspiration from great Northumbrians past and present – the warning signs are clear, and we must act.

And as this part of the world proves, decarbonisation doesn’t hold a country back – it is essential for our future prosperity.

Secretary of State Grant Shapps: 11 October, 2021

After a party conference speech last week in which the Prime Minister celebrated the Hartlepool by-election, and described levelling up as “the greatest project any government can embark on”, it is perhaps fitting that today we are announcing a major investment to boost and level up Hartlepool’s economy and to set it on a path for future prosperity.

As part of a contract to manufacture concrete tunnel segments for HS2, a brand new factory will be built by construction company STRABAG at Hartlepool docks, creating more than 100 jobs. Work on the site, which was once used for oil rig fabrication, will begin in January, with production of the tunnel segments following in December 2022. Further jobs for local people will be generated in the supply chain.

It’s another example of how our unprecedented infrastructure programme is benefitting regional economies, and how the North is competing effectively for inward investment.

The new factory’s location, with excellent rail and sea connections, means it is well placed to be used beyond HS2 for both domestic and international projects. The lease of the site in Hartlepool will be signed for several years, demonstrating STRABAG’s long-term commitment to manufacturing in the North East.

Construction work will start by redeveloping surrounding land to prepare storage capacity and rail links. The focus will then turn to the manufacturing plant itself, which will house a state-of-the-art automated carousel and reinforcement hall. Robots will be controlled by telemetry to produce the high quality reinforcement cages required for each concrete segment.

The segments will be destined for twin bored tunnels running under London from HS2’s new Old Oak Common station. All 36,000 segments, weighing 7 tonnes each, will make the journey south from the Hartlepool factory by rail, with the first delivery arriving in April 2023.

The history of Hartlepool’s docks goes back well over 200 years. The proximity of coal fields and the area’s pioneering role in the growth of the railway both contributed to the rapid expansion of the docks in the 19^th century. Such was Hartlepool’s importance that it was the first place on British soil to be attacked by German warships during the First World War. Amongst the casualties was Theo Jones, the first soldier to die on British soil in the Great War.

Now it is this Government’s biggest priority to lay the foundations for economic renewal in towns like Hartlepool, and across the North. As the Prime Minister made clear in his speech, transport is “one of the supreme level-uppers,” providing the connections that link people with jobs and businesses with markets. That is why we are continuing to invest in better road infrastructure throughout the Northern Powerhouse.

For example, we’ve just opened the £30 million A69 Bridge End upgrade near Hexham, Northumberland, which has seen a new stretch of dual carriageway built under the existing roundabout and the construction of two bridges to form a new junction.

This vital route between Newcastle and Carlisle provides an arterial link between the north east and north west of England and is heavily used by hauliers and commuters. The section between Hexham and Newcastle is particularly busy, so the new road will tackle congestion, and save regular commuters up to an hour of driving every week.

This week we’re also pioneering a world first on the £1bn A66 project to dual the route between the M6 at Penrith and A1 at Scotch Corner. We are the first country to use cutting edge technology allowing the public to hear anticipated noise levels of traffic on the redeveloped A66 as part of the consultation.

Design company Arup’s innovative SoundLab system is giving local people a unique opportunity to hear the sound of the road with and without proposed improvements to minimise noise, such as special road surfaces and sound barriers. Not only is it an easy way for communities to learn about the noise impacts of the project, but it’s also saved significant taxpayer investment measuring and recording sound in hundreds of locations.

There’s been a lot of discussion of the meaning of “levelling-up” recently but these measures are at the crux of what we want levelling-up to be about for people across the North but especially in Hartlepool.

We are putting the everyday experience of people first, words are all well and good but we know it’ll only mean something if we take action, create jobs and drive economic growth. When the Germans attacked Hartlepool the reason they did so, was because Hartlepool was at the forefront of our war effort, with opportunities abundant for residents. Now, thankfully during peacetime, Hartlepool has a bright future ahead of it once again.

Secretary of State Grant Shapps: 25 September, 2021

There is often speculation about an imminent government reshuffle when Parliament returns from summer recess each September. This year, it was described as hitting “fever pitch”, with “swirling rumours” about a fresh look Cabinet spread across the media.

I try and avoid all the gossip. But I did follow the coverage in the Yorkshire Post, and in particular the questions about what a reshuffle might mean for the North, and whether it would signal a backward change in commitment to the Government’s levelling up agenda. And today, I’m happy to confirm that the answer to those questions is an emphatic no. In fact, the reshuffle has only strengthened our determination to deliver on this most crucial of priorities.

Speaking personally, I could not be more delighted to have been reappointed Northern Powerhouse Minister and Secretary of State for Transport. We often hear criticism in this country that ministers don’t get enough time to make a real difference in the positions they hold, so I am hugely grateful for this opportunity to keep driving the historic Northern Powerhouse project forward.

As I’ve said before, this is a full Cabinet position, and a distinction that confirms the North as the only region of England to have its own dedicated representation at the top table of government. When you also consider the appointments of Metro Mayors to run West Yorkshire, Greater Manchester and Tees Valley; the opening of Treasury North in Darlington, leading the march of thousands of civil servants Northwards; and the new Northern hub for the Bank of England, the huge shifts in decision-making away from London implemented by this Government are clear.

But the reshuffle didn’t just reconfirm existing positions. By creating the new Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities, the Prime Minister showed how rebalancing the UK economy remains at the heart of his vision for the country. The new Secretary of State, Michael Gove, is someone who passionately believes in building prosperity through the roots of Northern communities, as indeed do I. Neil O’Brien, who helped George Osborne develop early plans for the Northern Powerhouse, and since May 2021 has been working as an advisor to the Prime Minister on levelling up, has joined the new Department’s ministerial team. And Guiseley-born Andy Haldane, who has worked for the Bank of England for over 30 years, most recently as Chief Economist, is leading a new taskforce on levelling up – something he describes as among the most significant challenges of our time.

In my opinion, the new Northern Powerhouse team is the strongest we’ve ever had in government. There is an understanding that transforming a region as big as the North, after so many decades of underinvestment, cannot happen overnight. Instead, our task is to build a solid foundation for the sustained regeneration of the North’s communities and economy over successive governments. Making sure the North’s voice is reflected across Government is one fundamental aspect of that. Creating a new Northern Powerhouse requires reform in many areas, from modernising infrastructure, and bringing new investment to the North, to improving education.

Take one example from the past week – the extended ‘Glasses in Classes’ programme launched by the Department for Education, which provides two free pairs of glasses for children to help them read and write by addressing poor eyesight.

Research shows that almost a third of pupils who require glasses have not visited an optician, and disadvantaged children are less likely to get the glasses they need, which can hold them back at school. The ‘Glasses in Classes’ scheme aims to tackle the problem, and will be rolled out to five places in the North of England under the Opportunity Area programme. This will reach more than 9,000 pupils in at least 225 schools.

Meanwhile, alongside my responsibilities as Northern Powerhouse Minister, I’m looking forward to getting on with boosting and modernising transport across the North. Let’s not forget that we’ve already invested more than £29 billion in Northern transport since 2010, an incredible sum which is helping renew the region’s railways and roads, build new green transport industries and jobs, and helping people embrace cycling and walking.

With the help of the DfT’s Northern Transport Acceleration Council, one of my main priorities in the months ahead will be, wherever possible, to speed up delivery of transport schemes that can help the North bounce back from the Covid pandemic. And I’ll be working with colleagues across Government to put the Northern Powerhouse at the front and centre of everything we do.

I believe this country can be the biggest economy in Europe by 2050. But we can only achieve that goal if we realise our full national potential, energising all parts of our country. That means unlocking the latent potential of the North. Covid has been a terrible distraction from this project. Now, as the skies clear, we must press on.

Secretary of State Grant Shapps: 12 September, 2021

September, at least in our household, inevitably has something of a back to school feeling. But, before the memories fade completely into a sea of new uniform, gym kits and packed lunches, it’s worth taking a moment to look back at the past few months.

For many, this Summer provided the first dose of sun, sea, and sand for almost 2 years following the Government’s easing of travel restrictions. Not only has it allowed families to get away after months of lockdown; it has also brought much needed relief to the tourism industry. In fact, even as recently as this week, resorts from Blackpool to Bridlington were reporting brisk business as the North basked in 25 degree temperatures.

And with the boom in staycations, comes a need to continue the great strides we’ve made in the North when it comes to creating better links and improved infrastructure. Because, just as transport and travel helped the country cope during lockdown, distributing food and medicines and helping key staff get to work, now it is helping to accelerate our recovery and level up the region.

Last week, for example, we gave the go-ahead to electrify the railway between Wigan North Western and Bolton on the route to central Manchester. This £78 million scheme will not just allow the current diesel train fleet to ultimately be replaced by clean, quieter, electric stock; it will provide passengers with more seats, greater comfort, and improved reliability. Longer platforms will also be built to accommodate longer, trains, helping to reduce overcrowding at peak times and support increased demand from the new homes being built in the area.

The new line is just one part of a comprehensive overhaul of the railway across the North West. Widespread electrification and modernisation of the fleet – including 101 new trains on the Northern network in the past 18 months alone – are transforming the image of the region’s railway, and attracting new investment.

If the Wigan-Bolton line represents a shining future for the North’s railway, then another announcement this week closes the door on a widely reviled feature of its past. Last Sunday, the final retired Pacer train was lowered into the grounds of Airedale General Hospital in West Yorkshire to begin its new life as a centre providing support to families and friends visiting the hospital. The local NHS Trust won a DfT competition to “Transform a Pacer”, after the highly unpopular trains were finally taken out of service after over 3 million miles of service. They grew to became emblematic of a Northern railway that had been starved of investment for decades, but is now undergoing widespread renewal.

At least the story has a happy ending. Kirsty Randall, matron for the children’s ward at Airedale, said: “We’re really excited to have the carriage on site and can’t wait to start using it with our patients and their families. We’re planning on using the space for children and young people who need to be in hospital but not necessarily on the ward at all times.”

I speak a lot about rail in the North as I know how vital railway connectivity across the region is for the communities. But maintaining and improving the road network is just as high a priority for this Government as we move forward from Covid. After all, over the past 20 years, growth in car ownership per household in the North has significantly outstripped the rest of England. So, in August we announced a raft of measures to modernise the region’s roads, including money to upgrade traffic signals, and fix potholes in new, innovative ways, using technologies like drones and 3D printing.

The package, which councils in the North-West will benefit from, will improve the way traffic lights work, helping cut congestion, increase safety, and reduce vehicle emissions. It will also keep us at the forefront of technological developments in roads maintenance, which will help every type of road user, from bikers and cyclists to pedestrians.

Roads of the future will increasingly benefit from new technologies, none more important than the change to zero carbon motoring. With thousands of charging devices being installed on Northern roads, we’ve appointed a design team with a brief to create the chargepoint of the future – a design that we hope will become a new, iconic British emblem, like the red post box or telephone box.

And whilst I’m on the subject of green motoring, pumps throughout the North-West are now serving cleaner E10 petrol, which is compatible with more than 95% of all petrol vehicles. Blended with renewable ethanol, we expect E10 to slash the same volume of emissions that 350,000 cars produce in a year.

So, as the summer days end and we all settle back down into the familiar routine of school-runs, commutes and weekly shops rest assured that this Government is doing everything it can to make all your journeys in the North-West easier, cheaper and more efficient.

Secretary of State Grant Shapps: 31 July, 2021

The Mill of the Black Monks is not only one of the oldest pubs in Barnsley, but in the country. As a former water mill dating back to 1150, which served the monks of the nearby Cluniac monastery, it has been witness to the unfolding of our national history, surviving relatively unscathed for nearly 1,000 years.

However, like thousands of other properties across Yorkshire and the Humber, it was severely damaged by winter floods in 2019/20. During the fifth wettest winter on record, and the wettest February ever, this historic site – at the heart of the community – was threatened to its foundations.

Today, at a time when the only records this country wants broken are Olympic ones, we are instead seeing rainfall records tumble across the world. Germany, Belgium and China are currently dealing with the aftermath of devastating and fatal floods. Just recently, London saw a month’s worth of rainfall in just one day.

These extreme weather events aren’t a passing fad. They are likely to become all too common as the planet warms, sea levels rise, and winters become wetter.

I’m aware that the North of England is no stranger to floods. Be it East Yorkshire and Hull in 2007, Morpeth in 2008, or storms Desmond, Eva and Frank affecting Cumbria and Lancashire, floods are personal tragedies, with families faced with the devastation of ruined homes and lives turned upside down.

But these floods also have knock-on effects outside the immediately affected area. The 2015/16 winter floods left tens of thousands of properties in Lancaster without power; 850 flood incidents on the road network restricted car and freight travel; and 2 metres of floodwater in Carlisle paralysed the West Coast Mainline for two days. The total economic cost to the region was nearly £2billion.

Now, I am proud of the investment we’re making to develop, maintain and improve the North’s transport infrastructure. Whether that’s increasing capacity on the A66, reopening the Northumberland line between Ashington and Newcastle, or upgrading the Transpennine route, we are intent on unlocking the region’s potential through better connectivity. But the North’s economy, indeed our national economy too, depends on these transport arteries being resilient in the face of a changing climate.

Whilst we cannot magic away flooding, we can minimise the disruption and help families and our economy bounce back quicker.

That is why the Government’s record £5.2billion investment in flood defences over the next six years is vital. More than 1,000 schemes will receive investment in the first year alone, helping communities across the country. It represents excellent value for money: with every £1 spent on flood defences, we avoid at least £5 in damages. Over six years, 336,000 properties will be better protected, with more than £300million invested in communities across the north in the first year alone.

Crucially, over the six-year programme, this investment aims to improve the protections of around 550 kilometres of our critical road and rail infrastructure – ensuring emergency services, businesses and people can keep moving during these difficult times. This means more projects like the storage reservoir in Catterick, which now protects the A1 motorway and 149 surrounding properties. We’ll also get rid of the piecemeal investment decisions of years past, ensuring that funding for housing and transport is linked to money for flood defences.

We’ll continue to fund our vital flood defences, but the first line of defence rests in reducing the carbon emissions which lead to global warming.

Transport is the UK’s biggest emitter of greenhouse gasses, which is why we’ve set out a world leading plan to decarbonise our entire network by 2050. The North is at the forefront of green travel– with EVs built in Sunderland and Ellesmere Port, green hydrogen being developed in the Tees Valley, zero emission buses rolling out in Liverpool, and miles of new cycle lanes in Manchester. The Transport Decarbonisation Plan is not about stopping travel; it’s about making it cheaper, more convenient and, above all, cleaner.

In less than 100 days, that plan will be front and centre of our pitch at COP26. As the host nation, we’ll show leadership to help the global community reduce emissions as quickly as possible. Climate change has successfully smashed the divide between global and local. It’s becoming clearer by the day that what happens in Berlin and Beijing can have a real impact in Barnsley. We must be prepared for this uncertain future.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps: 17 July, 2021

Uniting two of the great cities in the north-east, Sunderland and Newcastle, has not always been easy.

Any Mackem or Geordie will tell you it’s a longstanding, passionate and fierce rivalry. And historically, fuelled by fuel.

In fact, it was this country’s long-favoured fuel – coal – that led to so great a divide in 1642 that the two historic coal ports went warring at the Battle of Boldon Hill. The battle raged primarily because of the preference and privilege afforded to Newcastle’s coal traders by King Charles 1^st – those were the days when coal ruled the roost.

But today, the pitched battles are more usually confined to St James Park or the Stadium of Light. And a mere stone’s throw from that battlefield in Boldon, the new £130m A19 Testo flyover has just been opened.

It not only has the potential to revolutionise links between the two cities, but arrives as our sights are firmly set as a country on decarbonising transport for good.

While the A19 is rather less well-known than the A1 it runs more or less parallel with, it is no less important to the region, serving the heavy industry and boosting the economy of the bustling nearby ports.

Over the last half century, the A19 has transformed from a single carriageway road linking seaside towns to a modern dual carriageway connecting 21st century urban areas. This has brought both economic and visual change to the North East.

This is no more so the case than with the new flyover. Built by a workforce made up of 60% of workers from the local area, it will provide safer, more reliable and free-flowing journeys while boosting the region’s growth – helping to strengthen and level up the economy in the North East as we Build Back Better from the pandemic.

Work began on the installation of the Testo’s flyover back in March 2019, in an effort to tackle the heavy traffic which has blighted the junction, and is predicted to deal with 83,400 vehicles every day by 2033. New link roads are also being built between Downhill Lane and Testo’s, aimed at boosting journey times, as well as providing new facilities for pedestrians, cyclists and horse riders.

The upgrade at Testo’s is one of 69 major improvement projects across England’s motorways and major A roads that we have committed to deliver by 2025 – and I am often asked how I square this road-building with our plans for decarbonisation of our road network – as set out this week in the Transport Decarbonisation Plan (TDP).

And the truth is that roads are not just for cars, they’re for buses and coaches and bicycles and so we need roads – we’re never going to get rid of roads. Indeed, what the investment in the A19 Testo reflects is the importance of our roads.

That is why our green print for decarbonising transport, the most ambitious of any major country, is so vital.

In November, we announced the phasing out of new diesel and petrol cars and vans by 2030, and, from 2035, all new cars and vans must be zero emissions at the tailpipe. This week we also committed to consulting on setting phase-out dates for all non-zero emission road vehicles, with 2040 as a backstop.

This means, for the very first time, a major country has set out a plan for a time when every vehicle on the roads will be zero emission.

And I want the North East to be at the forefront of it. Just two weeks ago Nissan, whose new electric Leaf model is being built at the Sunderland plant, recently announced a major expansion of battery production in the region creating thousands of new jobs both directly and in the supply chain.

This expansion of battery production is so welcome because it is paramount to closing the gap when it comes to the pricing of zero-emission vehicles – that’s why we’ve made taxpayer money available to ease the process.

I know some will see the decarbonising of our road network as a change too soon, and too suddenly – but the truth is that transport is always changing. Our job is to ensure it changes for the better.

While I can’t speak for the relations between their football teams, I know that physically Sunderland and Newcastle are better connected than ever before thanks to our investment in the A19.

And in fact, thanks to the TDP, just like the Battle of Bolden Hill, taking coals to Newcastle will be a thing of the past as well.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps: 2 July, 2021

By the end of the 1970s, the UK car industry was in a mess. Constant strikes, woeful build quality and the nationalisation of British Leyland had all but destroyed our reputation as a global automotive leader. For each day that German carmakers lost to industrial action, we lost ten, and against a tide of excellent imports, mainstream British carmakers struggled to compete.

But then something remarkable happened. In 1980, Nissan – or Datsun as it was known then – began looking for a site to build cars in Europe. According to records from the time, officials from the North East of England, a region with no previous history of car production, took the bold decision to approach Nissan in Japan, the first contact by any UK regional organisation. Their vision, for Wearside to become a shining beacon of modern motor manufacturing in the UK, was shared by the new Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher. And in 1986, she travelled up to Sunderland to open the new factory.

Today, that factory has made well over 10 million vehicles – from the Bluebird and Micra to the Primera and Qashqai. It has consistently featured among Europe’s most efficient car plants and has not lost a minute to strike action since it opened. In recent years, it has become a pioneer for zero carbon motoring too, making the consistently popular electric car, the Leaf. And yesterday, Nissan and Envision AESC announced investments that will support thousands of green jobs. Nissan will make a new electric vehicle in Sunderland and partners Envision AESC will build a new battery Gigafactory alongside. Production in Sunderland will create 909 new jobs at the plant, and more than 4,500 in the UK supply chain, while safeguarding a further 75 R&D jobs. We are also supporting Sunderland City Council to start development of a local energy network supplying renewable energy, at IAMP, the International Advanced Manufacturing Park.

Nissan’s latest investment isn’t just a welcome shot in the arm for the local economy. It’s also a tribute to the skills and professionalism of the North East workforce. Just as it raised the quality bar for UK car manufacturing in the 1980s, transforming productivity and reliability, that workforce is now helping build a new economic legacy for the region in emerging green transport industries.

For example, as I’ve reported in previous blogs, we’ve chosen Teesside to become the UK’s first centre for the research, development and testing of hydrogen transport, including buses, trains and HGVs. More than half the UK’s hydrogen is already produced in the area.

What’s so exciting about these projects is that they have long-term prospects in areas which have struggled to replace lost jobs in traditional industries like coalmining and shipbuilding. Establishing an early foothold in markets with such potential for growth puts the North East economy in a strategically strong position to reap rewards in years to come.

And we will do everything we can to support that growth. Our imminent Transport Decarbonisation Plan will set out how we intend to reach net zero transport emissions by 2050. From 2030, for example, new conventional petrol and diesel cars and vans will no longer be sold in the UK, and from 2035 all new cars and vans must be zero emission at tailpipe. This will not only ensure we achieve our carbon cutting targets, it will significantly boost the sale of UK manufactured electric vehicles.

The Government is investing £2.8 billion on top of significant private investment for the transition to zero emission motoring. Just last month, we announced the winners of a zero emission vehicle competition to power up the electric vehicle revolution. Among the winning projects was a zero carbon ambulance which uses a hydrogen range extender, a kinetic battery to speed up charging times even faster, and a device providing drivers with data on the health of their vehicle battery.

In the next few weeks, we will reach a milestone in the development of our charging network, with 25,000 public charging points and rapid chargers at 3,000 different locations. A recent NGO study found we now have more fast chargers per 100 miles of key strategic road than anywhere else in Europe. As we progress, we will make owning an electric car even easier and more convenient. Not just great news for plug-in vehicle drivers, but – after the announcement of the new Nissan electric vehicle and battery plant – fantastic news for the North East as well.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps: 22 June, 2021

AS football fans once again headed to Wembley last week for the first major tournament game between England and Scotland in 25 years, I found myself gripped by nostalgia.

As the fans travelled down on quick, comfortable and clean trains, which are a far cry from those in 1996, I thought that when it comes to rail its stark, the improvements we’ve made and how far we’ve come.

I was first struck by this when I visited the National Rail Museum in York recently, surrounded by some of the crowning achievements in our long and proud rail history. The Mallard, the Intercity 125, the Rocket, to name but a few.

It’s a journey that I know has often been too focused on the South and left the North languishing in its wake. But that is something I’ve made it my mission to change as Northern Powerhouse Minister by putting in the effort to modernise, upgrade and improve transport in the North.

Renewing and expanding the North’s transport network isn’t just about investing in Northern roads and railways. We have to look at how transport knits the region together with the rest of the UK, and how specific projects around the country improve journeys for people and businesses in the North, particularly on the most economically important routes to the Midlands, London and Scotland

Take the East Coast Main Line for example, one of our most crucial, and oldest transport arteries, which connects Yorkshire and the North East with Scotland and London King’s Cross.

Last week we completed a vital scheme to overhaul the rail infrastructure approaching King’s Cross – all part of a £1.2bn upgrade programme to transform services and absorb future rises in demand.

Dubbed ‘King’s Uncrossed’, this complex project has replaced around four miles of track, 12 miles of overhead wires, and 50 signals. It will allow more trains to use the station, reducing congestion and making rail journeys more reliable for East Coast passengers.

At the same time, engineers have been building a tunnel and almost two miles of new line north of Peterborough so that freight trains no longer cut across the East Coast Main Line.

By diving underneath the East Coast route, the tunnel will allow high speed passenger services to continue unimpeded by slower freight traffic when it opens in the autumn. Further work is continuing to improve the power supply on the East Coast Main Line so we can introduce faster, quieter and more environmentally friendly electric trains.

Ultimately, the work moves us another step closer to completing a transformational renewal of the East Coast Main Line, which will deliver resilient and reliable transport connections for the 20 million passengers who use it each year.

Together with an improved West Coast line and HS2, we will have three world-class, North-South rail corridors spanning the nation, and providing the links that the North’s economy needs to compete and thrive.

Putting the passenger at the heart of the future of the rail network has always been my goal. We can achieve this by giving them the simple, affordable and stress-free railway they want to see, as well as providing the kind of reliable service Harry Kane could only dream about.

One such example of this is that from later this month, passengers will be able to use flexible season tickets to travel on the railway in England, offering most two and three day a week?commuters?savings compared with buying daily tickets or traditional seasons.

The new tickets are designed to fit in with people’s changing lives, particularly after the pandemic. The discount offered is dependent on the existing fares, which differ across the country, but?the flexible season ticket will provide a?minimum 20 per cent discount against the equivalent monthly season ticket.?They go on sale today.

When our rail modernisation programme is complete, the North will be one of the best connected regions in Europe. And people will have the fair tickets they need to use it.

I’ve made it my aim to ensure every train that leaves from one of the North’s historic stations be comfortable, punctual and reliable not only for the outward journey but – perhaps pertinently this summer – when it’s coming home too.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps: 4 June, 2021

It is unsurprising that HS2 has a much higher media profile than the Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU). In fact, if you Google HS2, you’ll generate thirteen times more online search results than Transpennine.

And yet, for the many Northern communities it serves, the TRU remains a critically important infrastructure programme. Not just those directly along the 76-mile line between Manchester, Huddersfield, Leeds and York – but the many more communities on routes to Preston, Bradford, Barnsley and Newcastle who benefit from links to the Transpennine railway.

Building a new, national high speed railway is crucial to levelling up our country. But just as important is improving existing connections, which link villages and towns with suburbs and cities. And they don’t come more important than the Transpennine Route, which last week received another £317 million funding boost from the Government to make sure work remains on track. That’s in addition to the £589 million I announced for the scheme last summer.

The TRU includes some of the busiest stretches of railway in the North, so the investment will help us increase capacity, relieve bottlenecks and make services more reliable. It will also help us deliver faster journeys, greater resilience, and better stations. It means we can move forward with electrifying over 50% of the route, including sections between Manchester and Stalybridge, Huddersfield and Leeds, and Church Fention and York. We are currently exploring full electrification of the route, further station upgrades and digital signalling in the future. But in the meantime, work on the latest improvements will begin immediately.

Alongside this announcement, we also unveiled plans to build new stations at White Rose and Thorpe Park in Leeds. The new stations will support business and retail development at both locations, creating jobs and encouraging more investment.

Meanwhile, we’ve also completed work on the first phase of the £1.5 billion Midland Main Line upgrade, a project with significant implications for passengers in the North. It means faster services for commuters, reducing peak journey times from Sheffield to London St Pancras to just over two hours.

Getting large infrastructure schemes funded and built is a huge task. But before that can happen, we have to make sure each project fits our wider vision for the network, maximising benefits for passengers and freight operators. New lines must dovetail with old ones, and be cost effective – which also means they should be built as efficiently as possible. This is complex work. But soon we will be in a position to set out our detailed plans for HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail in the North.

Whilst HS2 was originally planned to be a long-term project, taking several decades to bring benefits, we think we can bring that forward substantially by building in a smarter way. This is the work we’ve called our Integrated Rail Plan, which will be published and will look at how best to deliver HS2 Phase 2b, Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) and other major Network Rail programmes.

The railway has a critical role to play in the North’s future, just as it has in its past. That means not only linking major cities with fast, reliable transport connection, but also ensuring that towns and communities across the region can benefit from a better railway. The decisions we’re taking now will create a legacy of world class connectivity and economic prosperity across the North for future generations, and we’re determined to get them right.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps: 21 May, 2021

Close to Keighley, in the small village of Oakworth, is a rail station that defines this country’s love affair with the railways.

With gas-lit lamps, a framed portrait of Queen Victoria, and polished signs for Brasso and Old Calabar dog food, it is a place near-frozen in time.

As the filming location for the Railway Children, which continues to host magnificent steam engines to this day, Oakworth shows how trains are woven into our national psyche. Britain invented, and then exported the railways, changing the world.

Nowadays, we need them more than ever. We need them to reconnect our country post-Covid. We need them to rebuild our economy. And we need them to meet our ambitious environmental commitments, and achieve net zero carbon emissions.

So today, I’m announcing a new vision for our railway – a plan that ensures we will be as proud of our railway future as we are of its past. Great British Railways will be a single, familiar brand with a simple purpose – to deliver punctual, comfortable and clean services, and tickets that are easy to buy and understand.

Great British Railways will provide accountable and clear leadership, taking responsibility for infrastructure, collecting fares and setting timetables, so you’ll know who is in charge. Rather than different rail organisations arguing about who is responsible for delays as we see today, Great British Railways will focus on resolving them.

A new system of tougher contracts will ensure we retain the most beneficial advantages of private sector involvement – innovation, ingenuity and creativity, to improve services for passengers. They’ll only be paid when they perform, so there’s no excuse not to deliver a first-class experience on every journey you take.

We’ll substantially increase contactless and pay-as-you go ticketing, and make fares fairer with new flexible season tickets. Part-time commuters could save hundreds of pounds.

For Mayors and political leaders in Yorkshire and beyond, this new system will give greater control and a stronger voice, ensuring the services and stations in their area are designed around the passengers who use them every day.

As we build back better from the pandemic, the reforms will encourage people back to the railways by responding to their concerns. For example, we’ll improve, or phase out, ‘ironing-board’ seats. And we’ll protect off-peak services to support the late-night economy.

We’ll publish plans to make our trains cleaner and greener, along with a full accessibility audit, and a 30-year plan to ensure we invest where it’s needed most.

And we will continue to expand our railway, pressing on with our efforts to reverse Beeching closure and restore railways.

This is a bold new blueprint for a better railway, arriving exactly three years after a botched timetable change caused massive disruption for passengers across the North.

That dark chapter showed just how badly rail reform was required. When I intervened to take back control of the Northern franchise, I promised to turn the page on our fragmented, unreliable railway, and get services back on track.

Now it’s time to turn the page. These ambitious reforms are not about ideology, or nationalisation versus privatisation – they’re about making the railway work for passengers. A railway that Yorkshire, and Britain, can be proud of.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps: 20 March, 2021

When the UK team rode into the Olympic stadium in Beijing to take on the torch in 2008, their steed was a bright red double-decker bus. This everyday vehicle, both beautiful and practical, is an icon of modern Britain.

Buses are the workhorses of our public transport network, responsible for double the number of journeys made on our railways. From schoolchildren to pensioners, they are a lifeline, cutting through the congestion in our cities, and even providing our Prime Minister with a model-making hobby.

Yet, despite their huge importance to our daily lives, buses are often overlooked in terms of resources and innovation.

Pub quiz experts will recall that the 1865 Locomotives Act famously required a man carrying a red flag to walk in front of every steam bus, limiting their extraordinary potential to a mere two miles per hour.

I’d argue the absence of a comprehensive national strategy has similarly thwarted the expansion and modernisation of our bus network, limiting us to a red-flagged, glacial-pace of change.

All that changes with our new national bus strategy, a commitment of £3 billion to make buses more reliable, frequent and cheaper.

This is fantastic news for the north, because we want to apply standards taken for granted in London – easy ticketing, frequent and speedy services – to the rest of the country.

The whole country deserves the ‘turn up and go’ services that have become standard in the capital. With hundreds of miles of new bus lanes and more services in evenings and weekends, red lights and red flags are being swept away in favour of faster journeys.

Better connecting rural communities

Crucially, in more rural areas across the North, £20 million of investment will help deliver on-demand services that give communities a treasured bus service.

Targeted funds mean places like Helsby and Frodsham will have better links to major employers like Stanlow Refinery and Thornton Science Park. Passengers across Cumbria, from Penrith to Ulverston, Wigton to Egremont-St Bees, will benefit from well over a million pounds to fund extra services every day.

Three new minibuses, booked via a mobile app, will speed across Cheshire East to strengthen its existing community transport services, and six new vehicles, also booked by an app, will double the previous services in North Lincolnshire.

This is a strategy that delivers for the North – with contactless payment as standard, daily price caps to keep the cost of travel down, and a requirement for next stop announcements on every bus in the country.

Greener fuels to cut congestion and clean up our air

Let’s not forget, a fully-loaded double decker can take 75 cars off the road. Backed by the purchase of at least 4,000 new zero emission buses – more than a tenth of the fleet – we’re focused on cutting congestion, pollution and harnessing the latest technology to help clean up our air.

And it’s a shot in the arm for our brilliant British bus manufacturers – supporting jobs in places like Sherburn-in-Elmet, just outside of Leeds, producing hydrogen fuel cell double deckers.

Add to that our plans to create the UK’s first-ever hydrogen transport hub in the Tees Valley, with the potential to create up to 5,000 new jobs. And then add the recent launch of our ‘Green Fuels, Green Skies’ competition, with £15 million to help companies turn everyday waste into cleaner fuels for planes.

We are forging a real opportunity for businesses across the Northern Powerhouse to be the next generation of pioneers, the catalyst making transport in this country greener and cleaner, and establishing this country as a global leader in hydrogen technology.

Local decision-making is vital

Perhaps most importantly, our Bus Strategy will see operators and local councils entering into Enhanced Partnerships, to ensure expertise and local knowledge are combined to deliver better for passengers.

Because we believe in putting decision making powers back into the places where they make a difference to the communities they serve.

That’s why this week I was delighted to unveil our plan for a new Northern hub in Leeds and a second headquarters in Birmingham, creating 650 jobs outside of London, and a more diverse and representative Civil Service.

When decision-makers truly know what it’s like to commute and travel around Northern towns and cities, we can be confident that decisions are absolutely rooted in what’s best for people living there.

And just as we prepare to overhaul our buses and make sure the ambitious transport schemes of the future are fit for the North, we haven’t forgotten the importance of protecting the routes and links that really matter to people today.

Today, I can announce almost £33 million of further funding for six light rail systems – including in Sheffield, Tyne and Wear, Manchester and Blackpool.

Protecting these services, which have been lifelines for getting critical workers to their jobs and the public to their vaccinations, is essential.

Better buses, pioneering fuels, local decisions and services protected. That’s how we ensure every form of transport can be an icon of modern Britain.

Secretary of State for Transport, Grant Shapps: 5 March, 2021

If anyone still doubted the Government’s determination to deliver on our promises to the North and level up the UK economy, then I hope this week’s Budget has persuaded them of our intent. The measures announced by the Chancellor – including the first ever national Infrastructure Bank in Leeds, a major new base for the Treasury in Darlington, and three new Freeports in Humber, Liverpool and Teesside – signal a historic rebalancing of the UK’s economic geography.

We’ve already overseen a transformational shift in decision-making powers away from London to the North of England. By May, 60% of the North will be represented by metro mayors, each of them advocates for their areas. That’s far more than any other region of the country. But the commitments made in this week’s Budget illustrate our longer term ambitions to empower the North and help the region build back better from Covid.

Locating the important new UK Infrastructure Bank in Leeds is further evidence that the UK’s economic centre of gravity is being pulled northwards. Supporting more than £40 billion of infrastructure investment, the bank will finance both public and private schemes across the UK, with a special remit to help the UK reach its net zero carbon commitment by backing green initiatives, and taking equity stakes in the most promising projects. The new bank will open its doors this spring.

Meanwhile, I am delighted that Darlington was chosen as the location for ‘Treasury North’. Staffed by 750 senior civil servants, this is not just an office. It’s a significant part of the largest and most powerful department moving out of the capital, putting Northern people and businesses at the heart of Government. The move not only reflects Darlington’s excellent transport links, but also the need to focus investment and economic activity right across the Northern Powerhouse.

Freeports will catalyse economic growth

Earlier this week, the Prime Minister and the Chancellor were in Teesside, where a new Freeport will turbocharge the local economy and create thousands of jobs. Indeed, all three new Northern Freeports will become catalysts for economic growth, attracting new investment and creating opportunities in left behind communities and benefitting from fantastic new international trade opportunities.

In addition to a simplified customs process, our Freeports will offer tax measures to incentivise businesses to invest and carefully considered planning reforms to facilitate much-needed construction. There will be additional targeted funding for infrastructure improvements in Freeports to level up communities and boost job opportunities.

Levelling up is a key objective of the Freeports, and among the reasons why Humber, Liverpool and Teesside were chosen was their ability to bring economic opportunities to more deprived parts of the country. And to help progress the Prime Minister’s Ten Point Plan for a green industrial revolution, new port infrastructure will be built to support the next generation of offshore wind projects in both Teesside and Humberside.

Painting a picture of the future during his Budget speech, the Chancellor said: “I see old industrial sites in Teesside being used to capture carbon, vaccines being manufactured, off-shore wind turbines creating clean energy for the rest of the country, all located within a Freeport, with a Treasury just down the road, and the UK Infrastructure Bank only an hour away.”

New funding to level up towns and boost transport connectivity

Further announcements in the Budget included over £1 billion for more towns to benefit from the Towns Fund. For example, Castleford will now join the long list of Northern towns to receive substantial funding for regeneration. Northern mayors have received over £30 million to support planning and delivery of transport projects in advance of £4.2 billion for transport networks in city regions next year. Nearly £19 million was announced to transform cultural projects in four places, including Hartlepool, Carlisle and Wakefield in the North. And guidance was published for local areas helping them apply for a share of our £4.8 billion Levelling Up Fund.

Turning to my beat – transport – there is more good news. The Chancellor revealed a further £135 million to progress the vital A66 TransPennine upgrade. We are also taking further action to help the aviation industry which has been so badly affected by the pandemic, and to support regional airports in the North, which will be essential to the region’s recovery. The Budget renewed the Airports and Ground Operations Support Scheme for an extra six months from the start of 2021-22. This scheme will be open to eligible commercial airports and ground operators across the country, including in Northern England, and will provide support towards their fixed costs, saving up to half of their annual business rate liabilities, subject to certain conditions, and a cap per claimant of £4 million.

After the devastating events of the past year, this was a Budget that laid the foundations for our economic recovery. But in contrast with the past, it also laid the foundations for a fairer, more balanced recovery, generated not just by the South East and London, but increasingly by the economic powerhouse that is the North of England.

One year on for the Northern rail franchise

I can’t finish this latest blog without mentioning a special first anniversary. No, not since we first went into lockdown; but since the Government stepped in to take over the ailing Northern rail franchise. Over that period, despite an extremely difficult year for rail, Northern has transformed services with a huge investment in new trains, the refurbishment of 250 others, the retirement of Pacers, improved parking facilities, and completed the extension of platforms at more than 70 stations.

After one year of new ownership, the operator has this week announced a series of further improvements including maintenance depot upgrades in Manchester and Hull, and infrastructure improvements which will boost reliability. After the poor service Northern passengers suffered in the past, this is something worth celebrating, and I’m grateful to the team at Northern for all their hard work.

Secretary of State for Transport, Grant Shapps: 19 February, 2021

Britain may have been in lockdown for much of the past year, but it’s been full steam ahead for HS2. After the new railway was given the green light by the Government last February, an army of more than 15,000 workers and more than 500 apprentices have made great progress building the line. And last week, the Bill approving Phase 2a between the West Midlands and Crewe was given Royal Assent.

This is a historic milestone for HS2, the first new north-south railway line in this country since the Victorian era. Although Phase 2a is shorter than the other sections of HS2, it illustrates the ambitious scope of the railway to spread the benefits of improved transport links right across the north.

First, it will create around 5,000 jobs as our economy builds back after Covid, and a further 140 permanent jobs at a new maintenance base near Stone in Staffordshire. It will offer a wealth of contract opportunities for local businesses, supporting growth and regeneration in Crewe and throughout Cheshire and Staffordshire.

Secondly, it will significantly boost capacity and reduce journey times for millions of passengers. Phase 2a will carry six long distance, high speed services per hour. Currently, the quickest service between Crewe and London Euston is 90 minutes. When finished, the new line will slash that time to just 56 minutes.

Unlocking benefits throughout the North

But to appreciate the true potential of the new services, you have to look beyond Crewe. A long way beyond. Because HS2 trains won’t just use the high speed network. They will carry on and join the existing rail network to provide direct services to Liverpool, Warrington, Preston, Wigan, Carlisle and Glasgow. Passengers in all these places will therefore enjoy faster, more comfortable and more reliable journeys. And there are further benefits. The new railway will unlock valuable capacity on the West Coast mainline, freeing up space for more commuter and freight trains.

Environmental works along the route to Crewe will begin immediately, with full construction expected to begin on this section by 2024. As part of Phase 2a, 78 hectares of native broadleaved woodland will be planted, and over 13.5 hectares of existing ancient woodland will be freed of invasive species.

Early this year, we will publish our Integrated Rail Plan, outlining how HS2 can dovetail with existing infrastructure improvements and Northern Powerhouse Rail to bring the benefits of high speed rail to the whole of the north.

Attaining Royal Assent for Phase 2a is a great way to start 2021. It means HS2 is now a reality for the north, promising better journeys, more jobs and a brighter future for communities across the Northern Powerhouse. This vital scheme is at the heart of the Government’s plans to build back better from the pandemic, and tackle the North-South economic gap which has divided our country for too long.

Secretary of State for Transport, Grant Shapps: 5 February 2021.

The North East can be proud of the role it is playing in the battle to defeat Covid. Not only is it home to the UK’s first integrated Covid hub in Gateshead, which has dramatically increased testing capacity, it is now playing a lead role in our world-beating vaccine programme too.

Last week it was confirmed that sixty million doses of the Novavax vaccine will be manufactured in Billingham, Stockton-on-Tees, for delivery in the second half of this year. Novavax was found to be 89.3% effective in preventing Coronavirus among trial participants, including against the new UK variant, and will become the fourth vaccine to bolster our fightback against the pandemic.

The North East is also leading efforts to inoculate its population against the virus, as the Guardian newspaper reported last week, in a feature headlined: Why is Newcastle so good at Covid-19 vaccinations? Newcastle was the first UK city to vaccinate all eligible care home residents, and by bringing all 31 of its GP practices together under one roof, it has created a mass vaccination centre capable of administering 30 jabs every five minutes. Further mass vaccine facilities will be opened across the region soon.

Every jab brings the end of this terrible pandemic one step closer. There’s rising evidence that just one dose provides significant protection against further infection, and could cut transmission rates by up to two thirds. So while production and distribution of the vaccines are the Government’s top priorities right now, we also need to prepare for our economic recovery. And as Transport Secretary, I am exploring ways we can build back better by improving transport links.

Building back better

In my last blog I explained how we were reversing the Beeching rail cuts of the 1960s, and investing £34 million to start work on reopening the Northumberland rail line between Newcastle and Ashington. I am delighted to report this time that Middlesbrough station is also to receive a £34 million upgrade, allowing the return of direct trains to London by the end of this year.

The work includes extending platform 2 to allow more and longer trains to use the station, including the LNER Azuma services which run on the East Coast Main Line. It will also boost local routes so passengers in Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool can enjoy faster and more frequent services.

Further improvements to the station will see construction of a new platform 3 and a redesigned entrance. This significant project further underlines our commitment to levelling up the North East.

Strong local voices

One of the key drivers for local growth across many parts of the country are the devolved authorities led by Mayors, such as Tees Valley, Greater Manchester and Liverpool City Region. Local leaders across the Northern Powerhouse give these regions a stronger voice, and make the case for greater investment to increase economic growth. That is why the devolution deal with West Yorkshire brought into law last week is so crucial.

The region will now elect its first ever Mayor, who will oversee an annual £38 million budget as well as new powers over transport, education, housing and planning. In total, the new Mayoral Combined Authority will have access to over £1.1 billion of funding. The Mayor of West Yorkshire will also become the region’s Police and Crime Commissioner.

We are investing massive sums to level up the North and build a strong and dynamic region, backed by local leaders with the means to make decisions. So adding West Yorkshire to the list of Mayoral Authorities is another important landmark in the development of the Northern Powerhouse.

I can’t finish a blog which has referenced both West Yorkshire and Covid without expressing my huge sadness on hearing the news earlier this week that Captain Sir Tom Moore had died. Coming from Keighley, he was truly one of Yorkshire’s finest sons. I had the privilege of meeting him last year to present him with the first ever Veteran’s Railcard. He was genuinely one of the most extraordinary people I have ever met. Charming, funny, completely on the ball – and endlessly optimistic. He packed a lot of life into his 100 years. What was even more impressive was how much he packed into his final year. Not just raising a huge amount of money for the NHS – but also raising the spirits of the whole nation.

Secretary of State for Transport, Grant Shapps: 23 January 2021.

Levelling up the North of England doesn’t just mean investing in major cities. It’s crucial that we also reinvigorate towns and communities which have been left behind, so they can share the benefits of economic recovery after COVID.

That is why today I’m announcing £34 million investment to start work to restore the Northumberland rail line between Newcastle and Ashington, which was closed to passengers in the 1960s as part of the notorious Beeching cuts.

Ashington was once known as the ‘world’s largest coal mining village’ with a bustling economy, and excellent rail connections to the wider Blyth and Tyne network, and East Coast Main Line. But the loss of rail services hit it hard. Since the final train carrying passengers rolled out of Ashington in 1964, South East Northumberland has struggled to attract jobs.

By reversing the Beeching cuts, we can put forgotten communities like Ashington back on the map. As well as Ashington, the restored Northumberland Line will also see new stations opening at Bedlington, Blyth Bebside, Newsham, Seaton Delaval and Northumberland Park, along with upgrades to the track and level crossings along the route.

It will provide reliable and regular services for passengers travelling to Newcastle and beyond, reduce congestion on local roads, and significantly boost the economic potential of the area.

Vital improvements

A good example of that potential is Britishvolt, which has chosen Blyth as a preferred location for its planned new electric battery gigaplant. If developed, this plant would be a major boost for the area, creating up to 3,000 direct jobs and another 5,000 in the supply chain and creating the batteries needed for the next generation of electric vehicles.

As one of the largest such factories in Europe, it would be capable of producing more than 300,000 batteries a year. The revival of rail services on the Northumberland Line can only strengthen the viability of new business investments and, I hope, encourage many more.

The North East is benefitting from a wide programme of transport improvements – both big and small. Last summer a new station opened at Horden in Durham after it too had fallen victim to Beeching’s axe over half a century ago.

Darlington station is soon to receive a makeover as well, with work expected to be completed by 2025 – the bicentenary of the original Stockton to Darlington Railway. Elsewhere, we’re delivering £700 million over five years to improve the North East’s strategic road network, and last year’s Budget included £95 million to continue upgrading the Tyne and Wear Metro.

After an incredibly tough year, these investments will help the North East recover from the virus. With so many blue-chip employers – including Hitachi, Nissan, Siemens, GlaxoSmithKline and Caterpillar – the region has vast potential, particularly in new industries like green energy.

The Port of Tyne has been selected as the base for the world’s largest offshore wind farm at Dogger Bank, capable of powering up to 4.5 million UK homes. As a result, we’ve chosen Tees Valley to become a trailblazer for hydrogen transport, paving the way for a new generation of hydrogen buses, trucks, trains, planes and ships.

Investment

Whereas proximity to London has often been seen as providing an economic advantage for investors, in fact, it’s the North East’s strategic importance at the other end of the country that will spearhead its growth in the future.

With its world-class ports and airports, rapidly improving roads and railways, skilled workforce, first-rate universities and colleges, and affordable property prices, it offers outstanding prospects for growing businesses. And through schemes like the reopened Northumberland Line, we can spread the benefits of growth much more widely across the Northern Powerhouse.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the Pennines, we’ve just launched a consultation asking passengers for their views on how best to further improve the performance of Manchester’s railway.

The consultation provides three options to re-organise services to increase punctuality once passengers return in greater numbers after COVID. Each option could affect different rail routes and their access to Manchester Oxford Road station, Piccadilly station and Manchester Airport.

The city’s rail network has undergone a transformation since 2010 with the electrification of lines to Liverpool and Preston, the upgrade at Victoria Station, construction of Ordsall Chord, and the extension of Metrolink to Manchester Airport and Trafford Park. Passengers are also seeing the benefits of new trains across the Northern and TPE networks.

But there’s still a bottleneck in central Manchester causing congestion and delays. And it needs sorting. So we’re urging rail users to take part in the consultation and help us run a more dependable timetable once passengers return to regular travelling.

Finally, I spotted that Transport for the North had suggested it was subject to funding cuts during the next financial year. What TfN didn’t mention was that it already has the cash as it didn’t spend last year’s money, in part because of the impact of coronavirus. In the next financial year, they will have access to over £70 million of funding, the majority of which will enable further development of Northern Powerhouse Rail.

In addition, I have announced hundreds of millions of pounds of spending across the north since I’ve become Secretary of State. Rest assured that we will continue working directly with northern leaders as we accelerate our transport programme to level up the Northern Powerhouse.

Secretary of State for Transport, Grant Shapps: 7 January 2021.

The North made its voice heard in 2016 when it voted strongly in favour of leaving the European Union. Now, after four years of negotiation, it is being rewarded with two great prizes secured by the Prime Minister: full national sovereignty and the biggest-ever bilateral trade agreement signed by the EU.

We have taken back control of our money, borders, laws and fishing waters. Yet, we have also signed a deal with our biggest trading partner based on zero tariffs and zero quotas.

Not only does this deal deliver for the electorate, it charts a true course towards a more prosperous future for northern companies, allowing them to plan with certainty and explore opportunities in every corner of the globe.

Northern businesses have reacted very positively. Sunderland carmaker Nissan said it was looking forward to the continued success of its UK operation following the announcement. And the Chair of the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership, Roger Marsh, hailed it as a fair and balanced agreement, the basis for a renaissance in the North’s economy.

Ingenuity and enterprise

Despite the welcome news on Europe, I know the latest COVID restrictions have come as a blow to employers across the region. These are very trying times for firms – there is no getting away from it.

But the threat posed by the new, more infectious strain of COVID is significantly greater than before and these measures are vital if we are to control this killer virus until the vaccines – already administered to more than a million people in the UK – turn the tide.

The massive logistical effort that is the vaccination programme shows what this country is capable of – we have immunised more of our population than the rest of Europe combined, and our main vaccine is British designed and made. So, even in the darkness of mid-winter, we can glimpse a brighter future, one founded on British ingenuity and enterprise.

As Cabinet Minister with responsibility for the Northern Powerhouse, I want to reassure readers that our commitment to levelling up the North remains undimmed. It is front and centre of our infrastructure plans.

In December, for example, I chaired the second full meeting of the Northern Transport Acceleration Council (NTAC). The Council has been created to unblock barriers and speed up delivery of northern transport projects. Indeed, the list of transport schemes NTAC will consider is now clear, so the next task is to select the projects it will accelerate first.

Infrastructure upgrades

This week, a new platform will be unveiled at Leeds station after final work was completed over the festive period. Hundreds of workers gave up Christmas to work on overhead lines, tracks and signalling, and finish the project for the New Year. The £161 million Platform 0 will allow trains to enter and leave Leeds station much more easily, boosting capacity and punctuality. While it won’t come into full use until May – when the new timetable is introduced – it will be available for trains to use during times of disruption, minimising delays for passengers.

We’ll soon be announcing a new bus strategy to improve journeys across the north, and provide communities with services that meet their specific needs.

We’ll be moving forward with major infrastructure schemes like the Trans-Pennine rail upgrade and HS2, and with our long term £4.2 billion Intracity Fund, which will deliver huge benefits for urban transport in the North.

We’ll be working to restore passenger services on the Northumberland Line for the first time since 1964, when they fell victim to the Beeching cuts. And we’ll continue pressing ahead with an ambitious northern roads programme, tackling congestion and transforming capacity on key routes like the A19 and A66.

It’s been clear throughout 2020 that we are living through extraordinary times – and 2021 will have its share of challenges. But just as we delivered an excellent trade deal with the EU, we will deliver on our other promises, too.

That means delivering on one of the fundamental pledges in our manifesto: making the Northern Powerhouse an industrious, inventive and vibrant reality.

Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps: 14 December 2020.

For the thousands of families who have lost loved ones to the Coronavirus, nothing will turn the clock back. But as we roll out our vaccination programme and get a grip on the spread of COVID next year, we will focus our efforts on reinvigorating the northern economy, and replacing the jobs that have been lost during the pandemic.

As Northern Powerhouse Minister, I’m proud of what we’ve achieved so far. £3.4 billion of investment through northern Growth Deals. Almost half of the 100 UK towns to benefit from the £3.6 billion Towns Fund are in the North. In the recent Spending Review, the Chancellor announced a new £4bn Levelling Up Fund to invest in local infrastructure projects. And we’re continuing to devolve power. When West Yorkshire becomes a Combined Authority with a directly elected Mayor in May 2021, over 60% of the North will be represented by metro mayors. Far more than any other area of the country.

One of the best ways we can support the businesses of the North is to boost the region’s infrastructure. So it was great news that the Chancellor also announced a new National Infrastructure Bank headquartered in the North of England to galvanise investment.

Better transport across the North is essential if we’re to tackle the prosperity divide. Strengthening links within and across the region. But also enhancing national links to and from the North.

That’s why the HS2 Bill for phase 2a – taking the railway from the West Midlands to Crewe – currently going through Parliament is so important. Once passed, it will be the first time Parliament has confirmed backing for HS2 to reach the North. HS2 is a long-term investment which will bring our biggest cities closer together, boost productivity and provide a greener alternative to cars and planes for decades to come.

New trains

As the Prime Minister highlighted in our National Infrastructure Strategy, Northern Powerhouse Rail is also vital to levelling up the North. So far over £100m has been spent on developing the programme. Despite the financial pressures we are facing, we have protected spending on this project, with another £75 million to progress plans next year.

And there’s so much more investment going into northern transport.

Earlier this year, the government took over the Northern franchise to secure better, more reliable train services for the North. In the past few weeks, the final, long outdated Pacer was retired from the northern network, and last week, the 100th brand-new train made its maiden trip between Leeds and Chester via Manchester Victoria.

This landmark event means that passengers across Cumbria, West and North Yorkshire, Lancashire, Greater Manchester, Cheshire and Merseyside can enjoy state-of-the-art rail journeys, including free wi-fi, air-conditioning and digital media screens.

Few outside the trainspotting community will mourn the disappearance of Pacers. Although they’ve travelled more than 300 million miles in their 35-year lifespan, they came to symbolise the lack of modernisation in the North’s railway. Now the North has a train fleet befitting the region’s size and economic importance.

Better connections

Elsewhere, we’re spending £589 million on the TransPennine rail upgrade, to significantly boost capacity and connectivity between east and west.

We’re restoring other vital rail links through the Restoring Your Railway Fund, for example, Clitheroe to Hellefield, Consett to Newcastle, and the Bolton – Rochdale – Bury line.

And soon we’ll introduce a new strategy for rail, replacing the failed franchise model, and making sure that reliability and customer service is prioritised across the North in future.

We’ve also invested £11 billion to improve northern roads over the past five years. We’ve started work on the A19 upgrade six months ahead of schedule. And the Spending Review announced an additional £146 million to speed up the vital A66 dualling programme across the Pennines, shaving five years off the timetable.

We’re rolling out the £4.2 billion Local Public Transport programme so city regions across the North can upgrade public transport and tackle road congestion.

Our new Bus Strategy will help overhaul bus services across the region.

We’re working with northern authorities to extend cycling and walking infrastructure as part of a £2 billion national programme.

We want to complete these projects as fast as possible.

So we’ve established the Northern Transport Acceleration Council to help unblock the pipeline of schemes which are most important to local communities

After speaking to every local authority leader, we recently held our second full council meeting. Already, we are looking at a range of schemes spanning the North – from Cheshire West to Tees Valley – to speed up progress.

Last week I also held a roundtable meeting with northern business leaders to discuss how the government and firms can work together to rebound from COVID. It was a hugely positive meeting. Among many issues discussed were the need to improve skills and training to keep young talent in the North; strong support for creating jobs in green industries; working with brilliant northern universities to ensure that innovation is not lost to the south; the importance of transport investment; and the need to develop Humber as the ‘energy estuary’ of the North.

Above all, there was agreement that developing the Northern Powerhouse means building a strong economy. It is business activity and inward investment that will create decent jobs and level up our country so that youngsters in Leeds and Liverpool enjoy the same opportunities as those in London. And given the right conditions and investment, it is northern councils, northern businesses, northern innovators and northern people who will achieve these goals, not Whitehall.

I couldn’t agree more. And after the miserable 2020 that the north has endured, I can’t think of a better way to toast the New Year.

Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps: 1 December 2020.

The inspiration for the Northern Powerhouse, when the name was first coined in 2014, was to create a new industrial revolution in the north, addressing the prosperity divide across the UK, generating millions of jobs in modern industries, and allowing the North of England to become a globally competitive economic dynamo once again.

This new industrial revolution has many parallels with the first one two centuries ago. Like then, it will be centred on the North and triggered by technological change. Like then, it will thrive on access to a skilled workforce. And like then, it will require world-class infrastructure to bind the region together and connect with new markets.

But in another fundamental way, it will be unique, because much of the momentum for growth will come from breakthrough green industries. Instead of relying on finite resources, the future northern economy will profit from sustainability and recyclables, using cutting edge technologies that preserve the environment, rather than diminish it.

In fact, this is already happening.

Take the North East, where the physical sites from the region’s shipbuilding industry are now being used to expand green energy. A new green energy park has been launched by Port of Tyne to create a hub for the renewable energy sector. The move comes a few months after the Port was selected as the base for what will become the world’s largest offshore wind farm at Dogger Bank. The project is located 130km off the coast and will be capable of powering up to 4.5 million UK homes each year when complete in 2026. It will build on the Offshore Renewable Energy Catapult at Blyth, a place the government is supporting with a Town Deal to ensure the whole community benefits.

Technology is evolving fast

A recent study showed offshore wind could be worth as much as North Sea oil and gas at its peak. That’s why in recent months we’ve announced £160 million funding to upgrade ports and infrastructure across areas like Teesside and Humber. We’ve also chosen Tees Valley to become a trailblazer for hydrogen transport, paving the way for a new generation of hydrogen buses, trucks, trains, planes and ships. The technology is evolving fast. Trials of the first hydrogen train have already begun, and the world’s first hydrogen-powered plane took to the skies at the end of September – both here in the UK.

More conventional forms of green power are also boosting the North’s economy. Once completed in 2022, SSE Thermal’s new Power Station to the west of Scunthorpe will be the cleanest and most efficient gas-fired power station in Europe.

Then there’s electricity. Just a few weeks ago, Nissan’s 500,000th Leaf all-electric car rolled off the production line in Sunderland, one of Europe’s most efficient car plants. Now we’ve delivered a huge boost to the green car industry in the UK by announcing that petrol and diesel cars will no longer be sold after 2030 in this country. Bentley has since revealed plans to move to full electrification of its model range by that date, although its factory in Crewe is already certified carbon neutral. I was delighted that Nissan has confirmed that it will build its new hybrid Qashqai model at Sunderland too.

But even these significant investments will be eclipsed by what’s to come. In recent weeks the Prime Minister has set out his ten-point strategy for a greener Britain, outlining the plans we will take to accelerate our path to net zero. Backed by £12 billion of government funding, and potentially 3 times as much from the private sector, the plan will create up to 250,000 highly skilled green jobs. This vital funding will not only position the UK to take advantage of export opportunities in emerging low carbon markets, it will also help revitalise our industrial heartlands in the North of England.

For example, we will invest up to £1 billion to support the establishment of four carbon capture and storage clusters, which could generate as many as 50,000 jobs by 2030. Among the areas which could benefit are the North East, Humber, North West and Scotland.

A greener Britain

Meanwhile, our work to transform the North’s transport infrastructure continues. We’re building HS2 and developing plans for Northern Powerhouse Rail. We’re investing in better and cleaner rail links across the Pennines. We’re working with Northern authorities to extend cycling and walking infrastructure as part of a £2 billion programme. And it’s great to see Northern cities like Leeds roll out fleets of all-electric buses.

In a further boost for the region, the Chancellor announced in last week’s Spending Review that the country’s first-ever national infrastructure bank would be based in the North. This is in addition to a new Northern base for the Treasury, a £4 billion Levelling Up Fund, and changes to the Green Book scheme to prioritise investment in deprived areas – all evidence of the geographical shift in emphasis under this government. As Northern Powerhouse minister, I’ll be working with leaders across the region to establish how best to use these investments, support communities, and recover as fast as possible from the COVID crisis.

The Spending Review also included £100 million more for the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund, and an additional £146 million for the vital A66 dualling project, which will now be built five years earlier than originally planned.

During the 19th century, the North gifted an economic legacy to the world in the shape of industrialisation, innovation and new technology. Now, in the 21st century, the region has a historic opportunity to lead the world again – and create an enduring Northern Powerhouse.

Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps: 17 November 2020

In my last blog, I wrote that these were undoubtedly dark times, but also of my absolute belief that we must be unrelenting in continuing to level up, build back better and secure a brighter and more prosperous future.

In the past week, the North have been playing a vital role in the fight against COVID, and the government will make sure we continue to support them every step of the way.

News of significant advances in the work to deliver a coronavirus vaccine have offered us real hope, and the success of mass testing in Liverpool has provided the blueprint for another 67 rapid-testing schemes right across the country.

I was struck not only by scenes of over 23,000 people across the city volunteering to take part in this huge testing programme but by stories of kindness and compassion – including locals providing army staff in Toxteth with daily tea and toast as thanks for their service.

On Thursday, the National Institute for Health Research launched three new Patient Recruitment Centres in Blackpool, Bradford and Newcastle, as part of a £7 million government investment to boost UK medical research. Driving forward innovative schemes like this will see patients among the first to access new treatments, including the latest COVID vaccines.

These investments are also creating more jobs. Last week alone, the Alderley Park Lighthouse Lab in Cheshire, announced a huge recruitment programme to employ hundreds of people to play a key role in supporting the country’s drive to increase coronavirus testing. I have every confidence that these vital research initiatives will help attract further investment from the global life science industry in the future.

However, the fight against COVID isn’t just about new ingenuity and research. It’s just as important to make sure we’re investing in protecting the proud heritage and culture which makes the North so great. Art, music, drama, and heritage sites are vital to bringing communities together, and so I’m delighted that the government has provided iconic Northern cultural institutions with millions of pounds in support.

Durham Cathedral, a unique symbol of hope, confidence, and character has received a £1.9 million Cultural Recovery Grant from us this month. The Salford Lowry, which is not only home of the national LS Lowry collection but a community hub that nurtures local talent, has received £3 million to help it continue to use the arts as a vehicle for social change, helping young people develop creatively, personally and professionally.

As Transport Secretary I’m particularly pleased we are supporting the largest preserved heritage railway in the UK, which runs through the beautiful North York Moors National Park. And we cannot underestimate how important it is that we have provided support to legendary institutions such as The Cavern Club, beloved for providing a stage for The Beatles, kickstarting the careers of countless musicians, including Queen and the Arctic Monkeys, and of course, giving Cilla Black a job in its cloakroom.

From the historic Newcastle Theatre Royal, the northern home of the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre, to the Yorkshire Sculpture Park, we’re protecting heritage and culture across the country to save jobs and ensure that these venues and landmarks bounce back strongly.

COVID hasn’t detracted from the government’s focus on the North and Midlands at all – in fact, the opposite is true. This pandemic has further emphasised the need to level up our country and, as I set out in a speech to the Great Northern Conference recently, we are more determined than ever to make this happen.

In my department, we continue to press on towards this vision of levelling up the North at pace.

Today we’ve seen Northumberland County Council launch their consultation on reopening the Northumberland line, closed under the Beeching cuts, making real progress towards restoring stations and services that can revitalise local communities and open new opportunities for business and work.

Later this month, I will be chairing a meeting of the Northern Transport Acceleration Council, where local elected leaders will discuss how together we can get the transport projects the North needs delivered fast.

And before the end of the year, we will be publishing our Integrated Rail Plan, showing how projects, including HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail, can be connected strategically to deliver the train services that we people need and deserve, as quickly as possible.

We know there is more to be done, and we are committed to meeting the challenge of levelling up this country. With investment in innovation at the heart of the North’s fightback to COVID, investment in sustaining heritage and culture to strengthen its soul, we know we can have great hope for its future.

Secretary of State for Transport Grant Shapps: 2 November 2020

We cannot deny that these are difficult and dark times. With much of the North having lived under the highest levels of alert due to this unprecedented pandemic, and with tougher measures set to come into effect across the country, our focus is on controlling this virus and protecting lives and livelihoods.

But we have never lost sight of our commitment to build back better and secure a brighter and more prosperous future. This means investing billions of pounds to deliver infrastructure, opportunity and millions of jobs, and nowhere is this ambition more apparent than in the North.

Because the North has always been at the forefront of innovation, growth and ideas. Even in dark times, the brightest lights have been lit in the North.

More than fifty years before the London Library was formed, I’d argue it was the Literary and Philosophical Society of Newcastle upon Tyne which played host to the brightest minds and inventions.

It was in the grand neoclassic home of the Lit and Phil, stuffed with rare artefacts and exhibits – including this country’s very first specimens of the wombat and the duck billed platypus – that George Stephenson (who was also a great rail pioneer) demonstrated his Geordie miner’s safety lamp, and where Joseph Swan first lit a public room with electric light.

I know the visionaries and entrepreneurs of the North will always be there to illuminate the way forwards. Our challenge now is to fuel them with the resources and powers they need to thrive.

When I took on the role of Transport Secretary, I made sure that my Department would be at the heart of our commitment to level-up the North, with a strong focus on delivering results as quickly as possible.

Since July 2019, we’ve taken control of the Northern Rail franchise to deliver better services, kickstarted ambitious upgrades to the Transpennine rail line and invested hundreds of millions of pounds in the Newcastle Metro.

We’ve launched a £500m scheme to bring back rail connections lost in the Beeching cuts, including the Ashington-Blyth-Tyne line, started work on the £51m A19 upgrade six months ahead of schedule and progressed plans for the £1bn A66 upgrade.

And looking to the future, I have ensured the North East will continue to sit at the forefront of innovation, with Tees Valley driving a green transport revolution as the site for the UK’s first hydrogen transport hub, allowing for the creation of hundreds of jobs.

In addition to our ongoing work on HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail, all of these investments will help increase prosperity in the North, by better connecting communities and serving as catalysts for regeneration across the region’s held-back towns and cities.
Last month, the Department for International Trade announced 10 Northern Powerhouse investment champions to attract business to the region. The Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government recently called on councils across North Yorkshire and Cumbria to submit proposals to set up unitary authorities, and has announced that towns including Blackpool, Barrow-in-Furness, Darlington and Warrington will share £108.9m in Town Deals to help businesses and communities thrive.

These announcements are particularly important as – while we continue to invest in the North – we know that for the region to realise the entirety of its potential, some powers and decision-making must be taken out of Westminster and into the communities themselves. In my recent speech at the Great Northern Conference I made clear that the Northern Powerhouse must be owned by the North. We are taking action to ensure it has the tools and responsibilities it needs to do this.

Over the past four years we’ve seen Greater Manchester, Tees Valley, Liverpool, Sheffield and the North of Tyne elect their first metro mayors, while the people of West Yorkshire prepare to vote for theirs in May 2021. This means that in seven months’ time, 60% of the North will be represented by metro mayors – a clear display of this Government’s commitment to putting power back into our communities.

I honoured this commitment myself in July when I established the Northern Transport Acceleration Council, giving local elected leaders a direct line to Ministers to hold us to account and ensure the swift delivery of projects their regions are crying out for.

Speaking at the Great Northern Conference recently, I was reminded of the Lit and Phil of Newcastle. Surrounded by so many people dedicated to realising a shared goal of a vibrant, prosperous and well-connected Northern Powerhouse bursting with opportunity. It is my job to drive this agenda at an even greater pace.

And let’s be clear – the pandemic has meant there has never been a greater need to deliver for the North. As we battle through dark days, I am determined that we back the North, and ensure it realises its bright potential.