Rachel Reeves must revive Northern Powerhouse rail plan

Reviving projects linked to the Northern Powerhouse should be one of Chancellor of The Exchequer Rachel Reeves’ main priorities, her predecessor George Osborne has said.

In an interview with BBC North West Tonight, Conservative Osborne – formerly the MP for Tatton in Cheshire – said if he were Reeves he would focus on a new high-speed rail system and boosting the region’s universities’ research potential.

The high speed rail link was one the key elements of the Northern Powerhouse plan to boost growth in the North, but the infrastructure project was shelved during Boris Johnson’s premiership.

Reeves’ first spending review settlement is planned for June.

Osborne, who was Chancellor of the Exchequer between 2010 and 2016, said: “There have been lots of promises to upgrade the existing TransPennine Service, but fundamentally we want a new high-speed rail system of the kind you’d get elsewhere in the world.

“I think if I was her I’d also sought of double down on the science of the universities in the North West as that’s a big strength of the North West of England.

“I’d get behind those big research institutions, those big places where students gather because those are power houses for our cities in the North West.”

The schemes have previously been backed by the city region mayors of Greater Manchester and Liverpool.

Labour’s Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram have said government backing would be key to improving rail links and maximising the potential of sectors like life sciences and the Atom Valley manufacturing zone in Greater Manchester.

The Northern Powerhouse project was proposed by Mr Osborne in 2014.

Its aim was to end the UK’s economic reliance on London by investing in northern England, including plans for the HS2.

But the northern leg of HS2 was cancelled in October 2023 by then-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Northern Powerhouse Rail from East to West had been downgraded under Johnson the year before.

He said: “I think it was a really bad decision and I said so at the time and I’ll say so again.”

“I think those two things have been big missed opportunities and a succession of governments that came after me said they were going to do them and haven’t.

“And I guess now the pressure is on the current government to deliver.”

Osborne, who quit politics in 2017 to become the editor of the Evening Standard newspaper, a role he held until 2020, also told the BBC he was “really sceptical of anyone who says there may never be another Conservative government”.

He said: “When I started off in politics there were very few Conservatives in the North and people said ‘there may never be another Conservative government’.

“Then we’ve just had 14 years of Conservative government, and there were loads of Conservative MPs in the North of England.

“And now, of course, it’s swung right back.

“So I’m really sceptical of anyone who says there’ll never be another Conservative government, just as I was sceptical of people who said a few years ago that there’d never be another Labour government.”