Mayors welcome £6.9bn local transport boost – but warned of HS2 ‘sting in the tail’

Published

3 years ago

October 22, 2021

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England’s regional mayors have welcomed a £6.9bn spending boost for local transport – but they are also being warned of a “massive sting in the tail” to come from Chancellor Rishi Sunak.

At next week’s budget and spending review, Mr Sunak is expected to announce £5.7bn will be put into transport settlements for city regions, as well as £1.2bn of new funding for bus services.

The Treasury is promising the cash will boost productivity through train and station upgrades and the expansion of tram networks in cities outside of London.

The funding appears to be a victory for Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, who has been campaigning for government money to help create a London-style transport service for his city region.

However, a former government infrastructure tsar has accused Mr Sunak of putting “the good news before the bad news” as they predicted the chancellor would also scrap a major part of the HS2 rail project and scale down other big infrastructure schemes.

As part of the City Region Sustainable Transport Settlements, £1.07bn will be allocated for projects in Greater Manchester, £830m for West Yorkshire, £570m for South Yorkshire, £1.05bn for the West Midlands, £310m for Tees Valley, £540m for the West of England, and £710m for the Liverpool city region.

Mr Burnham welcomed an “important first step” towards a London-style transport system for Greater Manchester and said the government was “listening to the case” that his city region was making.

But the Labour politician added that “infrastructure investment alone will not make levelling up feel real to the people of Greater Manchester – that will only happen when the frequency and coverage of bus services are increased and fares are lowered to London levels”.

Andy Street, the Conservative mayor of the West Midlands, hailed the “largest single transport sum we have ever received” and promised “some truly game-changing schemes” such as more Metro lines and train stations, new bus routes and electric vehicle charging points.

His fellow Tory regional politician, Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen, said the cash was “another example” of the government’s commitment to being “serious about levelling up”.

He promised that “every part of our transport network in the region will be touched, with our critical practical schemes such as major station renovation and road improvements sitting alongside funding for more innovative projects like low-emission vehicles and smart traffic lights”.

The Treasury said the local settlements will enable projects such as new carriages for Greater Manchester’s Metrolink, an expansion of tram networks in South Yorkshire and the West Midlands, and battery packs for Merseyrail trains to extend its network.

And Mr Sunak’s department is also promising the £1.2bn pot for bus services will improve infrastructure, fares and services outside of London through the delivery of integrated fares and ticketing, as well as extra services and new bus priority measures to speed up journeys.

Those places benefiting from the money will be selected in the coming months, according to the Treasury.

“Great cities need great transport and that is why we’re investing billions to improve connections in our city regions as we level up opportunities across the country,” Mr Sunak said.

“There is no reason why somebody working in the North and Midlands should have to wait several times longer for their bus or train to arrive in the morning compared to a commuter in the capital.

“This transport revolution will help redress that imbalance as we modernise our local transport networks so they are fit for our great cities and those people who live and work in them.”

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However, former Labour transport secretary Lord Adonis – who went on to lead the UK National Infrastructure Commission under David Cameron and Theresa May – forecast that Mr Sunak’s announcement of local transport funding would come before the scrapping of the eastern leg of HS2 between Birmingham and Leeds.

He told Sky News: “The truth is the government is announcing a pretty good deal for local transport because they think all politics is local and having bus schemes, local train and local tram schemes is going to be popular.

“And I welcome that because we do need much better local transport and we particularly need it in the Midlands and the North so it’s more like London.

“However, what they’re not announcing now is the massive sting in the tail which is the cancellation of the eastern leg of HS2 and a big scaling down of the project to link up the northern cities from Liverpool and Manchester, through to Bradford and Leeds and then Newcastle in the north of England.”

Lord Adonis added the “big, strategic, backbone” transport infrastructure schemes were “just as important” as local schemes “if we’re going to level up this country properly”.

Labour’s shadow transport secretary Jim McMahon said: “If ministers were serious about ensuring towns and cities of the North are better connected, they’d be delivering to HS2 to Leeds and Northern Powerhouse Rail.

“Both these projects are critical to addressing the climate crisis and transforming the economies of the North and Midlands.

“If ministers go back on their word, communities will feel rightly betrayed.”

Earlier this month, Transport Secretary Grant Shapps signalled the eastern leg of HS2 could be scrapped in favour of other transport spending as he spoke of how the government should “not blindly follow some plan invented 15 to 20 years ago which no longer benefits people”.

Politics

Parliament urged to begin mandatory DBS criminal record checks on new MPs and peers

Published

8 hours ago

January 4, 2025

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Parliament urged to begin mandatory DBS criminal record checks on new MPs and peers

MPs and peers could be forced to submit to criminal record checks under proposals submitted by a new Labour MP.

In a letter seen by Sky News, Jo White urged the leader of the Commons to examine whether a new committee set up to modernise parliament should force all new members to have checks due to their access to young and vulnerable people.

She suggests in-depth background checks by the Disclosure and Barring Service – commonly known as DBS checks – as the initial stages of introducing MPs to parliament.

Candidates are currently banned from running to be an MP if they have been jailed for more than a year in the UK.

However, there is no requirement for DBS checks, something most other jobs require when applying for positions working with vulnerable people.

Ms White previously submitted an early-day motion on this issue, with cross-party signatures including 13 other Labour MPs supporting her motion.

In her letter to the committee, the Bassetlaw MP writes: “It is a privilege that, as parliamentarians, we can work with local schools, care homes and hospitals, but we must be proactive in preserving this trust.

“Implementing a mandatory check would protect both the people we visit and ourselves. It would be key to maintaining public trust and high workplace standards across the estate and in our constituencies.”

DBS checks are standard practices for GPs, nurses, teachers and other professions. They let potential employers know if a candidate has a criminal record or is banned from working with children or vulnerable adults.

Many local authorities already run DBS checks on elected officials but it’s not standard practice in parliament.

Prospective MPs can stand for election despite having a criminal record or appearing on the child-barred list or adult-barred list unless they have served a prison term over 12 months.

In fact, they do not need to disclose any criminal behaviour to the public prior to becoming a candidate.

The main vetting process before entering the House of Commons is done through political parties, who set their own rules for carrying out any such checks.

None of the Reform UK MPs have signed the early-day motion and leader Nigel Farage said last election there was “no vetting” of candidates.

This has already caused some controversy.

One Reform MP, James McMurdock, was jailed 19 years ago for repeatedly kicking his then girlfriend, according to court documents disclosed by The Times.

The South Basildon and East Thurrock MP attacked her in 2006 while drunk outside a nightclub and spent 21 days in a young offenders’ institution.

He had not publicly disclosed the conviction and described it as a “teenage indiscretion” when asked about the incident last year.

Under new rules, new MPs might have to fully disclose their criminal past.

The creation of a modernisation committee was a Labour manifesto promise and now sits as a cross-party group tasked with reforming House of Commons procedures and improving standards.

The committee said it would not be commenting on submissions until it’s had time to fully consider all options, but is due to publish an initial report early this year.

Politics

Nigel Farage rejects Tommy Robinson after support from Elon Musk

Published

8 hours ago

January 4, 2025

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Nigel Farage rejects Tommy Robinson after support from Elon Musk

Nigel Farage has said Tommy Robinson “won’t be” joining Reform UK after Elon Musk showed support for the jailed far-right activist on social media.

The billionaire owner of X, who has spoken positively about Reform UK and is reportedly considering making a donation to the party, has been critical of the government’s handling of child sexual exploitation across a number of towns and cities more than a decade ago.

While the Reform UK leader described the billionaire owner of X as “an absolute hero figure, particularly to young people in this country”, he distanced himself and his party from Robinson, who is currently serving an 18-month prison sentence for contempt of court.

Mr Musk endorsed the far-right activist and claimed Robinson was “telling the truth” about grooming gangs, writing on X: “Free Tommy Robinson”.

Speaking to broadcasters ahead of the start of Reform UK’s East Midlands Conference tonight, party leader Mr Farage did not directly address Mr Musk’s comments, but said: “He has a whole range of opinions, some of which I agree with very strongly, and others of which I’m more reticent about.”

He went on to say that having Mr Musk’s support is “very helpful to our cause”, describing him as “an absolute hero figure, particularly to young people in this country”.

He continued: “Everyone says, well, what about his comments on Tommy Robinson? Look, my position is perfectly clear on that. I never wanted Tommy Robinson to join UKIP, I don’t want him to join Reform UK, and he won’t be.”

Later on GB News, Mr Farage added that Mr Musk “sees Robinson as one of these people that fought against the grooming gangs”.

“But of course the truth is Tommy Robinson’s in prison not for that, but for contempt of court,” he said.

Mr Farage added: “We’re a political party aiming to win the next general election. He’s not what we need.”

How did Elon Musk become involved?

The online campaign from Mr Musk began after it emerged that Home Office minister Jess Phillips had denied requests from Oldham Council to lead a public inquiry into child sexual exploitation in the borough, as the Conservatives had done in 2022.

In a letter to the authority in Greater Manchester, Ms Phillips said she believes it is “for Oldham Council alone to decide to commission an inquiry into child sexual exploitation locally, rather than for the government to intervene”.

An Oldham Council spokesman previously said: “Survivors sit at the heart of our work to end child sexual exploitation. Whatever happens in terms of future inquiries, we have promised them that their wishes will be paramount, and we will not renege on that pledge.”

Mr Musk posted on X multiple times about the scandal, and claimed Sir Keir Starmer had failed to bring “rape gangs” to justice when he led the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS). In 2013, Sir Keir introduced new guidelines for how child sexual abuse victims should be treated and how a case should be built and presented in court.

The SpaceX and Tesla boss also endorsed posts about Robinson.

Robinson, who is 42 years old and whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, admitted at Woolwich Crown Court in October to breaching an injunction banning him from repeating libellous allegations against a Syrian refugee schoolboy, after he was successfully sued for libel in 2021.