Northern Powerhouse Rail

Lord Moylan Excerpts

Monday 19th January 2026 Lords Chamber

Too many northerners still face the choice of staying at home and putting aspiration on hold or moving away in search of a better future. I say no more unfair choices and no more missed opportunities. Today we start delivering Northern Powerhouse Rail, and I commend this Statement to the House”.

[Lord Moylan (Con)]

My Lords, Northern Powerhouse Rail has been with us now for over a decade. During that time its meaning and shape have changed somewhat, backwards and forwards, but nothing very much has been delivered. The Secretary of State in her Statement on Wednesday started with a lengthy castigation of the preceding Government for not having delivered anything despite having originated the concept when George Osborne was Chancellor. One must admit that she has some justification for doing so because the record of the previous Government in delivering major rail projects was not glorious and not something that I stand here with a view to defending.

The other thing that I want to say by way of preliminaries is that this is an ambitious programme and if the Government were to deliver it, the Conservative Party would applaud them—because the people of northern England deserve better rail transport links and this programme would transform what they currently have into something more effective and probably something that would bring greater economic benefits to the area. But that does leave us with quite a number of questions about the Statement made by the Secretary of State, which perhaps the Minister can answer.

When the Labour Party was in opposition, it thought of and presented Northern Powerhouse Rail as an almost wholly new line stretching from Liverpool across to Leeds, but what we have here is not a new line but a series of improvements. The Liverpool to Manchester part of it is to be a new line, but most of it is a series of improvements. Have the Labour Government now abandoned definitively the notion of a new line across the Pennines, which previously they supported?

When in opposition, the Labour Party stated repeatedly that trans-Pennine improvements would not be effective except in combination with the full delivery of HS2—certainly to Manchester and ideally to Leeds. Can the Government say definitively that this view has now been abandoned, that there is no plan for HS2 to be extended and that these improvements that are proposed are the stand-alone project on which they are depending for a transformation of the economy of that area?

My three remaining questions concern money. The Statement announces expenditure of £1.1 billion over the next four years. As I understand it—although I would be grateful for clarification from the Minister—that £1.1 billion is to be spent on preparatory work. By preparatory work I mean studies, scoping and design. I do not mean preparatory work of a physical character. As far as I can make out, none of that money over the next four years is to go on physical works. Am I correct that all the other works that are promised here are to be delivered after 2030 and some even later than that? I am not criticising the need for phasing but asking about the date. Is the £1.1 billion actually going to give us any improvement or will it be simply on preparatory works? Is there nothing to be seen before 2030?

Next, there is a funding envelope promised of £45 billion in total. Now, I ask this question in all sincerity. It happens all the time. Politicians and Governments do it. They say, “This is what something is going to cost”, but they cannot tell you what the something is. Until you have done the £1.1 billion of preparatory works—scoping and design—how can you possibly know what it is going to cost?

We made the same mistake over HS2. In fact, the noble Lord, Lord Adonis, made the same mistake over HS2 when he initiated it. We had a cost before we had even a line of route. What is the basis for the £45 billion if the preparatory, scoping and design work has not yet been done?

Finally, will the Minister confirm that the £45 billion is to be spent after 2030; that is, wholly by their successor Government? Do the Government not feel the slightest shame in claiming credit for that when they are landing it on another party?