A Train to the Northern Powerhouse
The Tories smashed the 'red wall' of long-time Labour seats across the North of England at the 2019 election. Through a mixture of neglect, complacency and 'woke silliness' the voters rejected Labour, and surprisingly, turned to the Tories. Be under no illusion, this vote was only lent, it does not belong to anyone anymore – it can be lost very easily.
The voters liked what they heard from the Tories and gave a thumbs up to investing in the North, levelling up, loving your country and being positive about the future. It was a winning message, but with one flaw – you have to deliver if you have promised.
It seems that the Tories are about to backtrack on High-Speed Rail (HS2) promises to the North – no break-off line to Leeds and no Liverpool to Hull to join up the West and East. If they do, it will surely damage them at the next election.
I discussed the benefits of HS2 to the North when I ran for Mayor of Greater Manchester in May 2021. I have created and run my own business and understand how a coast-to-coast line from Liverpool to Hull would connect the North and be a potential rival to London – given time. Richard Tice, the Leader of Reform UK, completely agrees and will push for such a scheme if Reform UK has a say. It is not surprising that business people see the benefits of this scheme where politicians subconsciously favour London for short term wins, instead of long term prosperity.
Let's look at some of the issues currently. Liverpool to Hull is a 100-mile journey and takes 3 hrs 15 mins by train, Liverpool to London is a 200-mile journey and takes 2 hrs 15 mins. See a problem?
The train to London has twice the distance to cover and manages to do it a third quicker than the whole Hull journey. In a nutshell, the Hull journey is three times slower. Does this seem fair to the North?
People say that travelling for business is now declining due to online innovations such as Zoom and Teams. But these people do not run businesses and do not conduct meetings where a mistake can cost you your career. Believe me, when I say, you want to be in a room with someone when you are negotiating, commissioning or interviewing. You want to get the feel of someone, look them in the eyes - we are social creatures.
Let's give businesses and entrepreneurs the infrastructure to build a real Northern Powerhouse. The government needs to set the stage for success, then move out of the way and let businesses do the rest. We must stop this 100 year decline of the North by offering the ingredients to start a new Industrial Revolution – the last time this happened it changed the world.
The North were promised trains - give us our trains!