..and we want to be in HS3 whilst we're at it!
Liverpool looks set to miss out on the second phase of the multi-billion-pound HS2 project.
Chancellor George Gideon Oliver Osborne, son of Sir Peter Osborne, 17th Baronet of Ballentaylor and Ballylemon and Felicity Alexandra Loxton-Peacock, educated at St. Paul's and Magdalen College, Oxford was today set to announce the high-speed rail scheme, dubbed HS3, would link Manchester and Leeds by 2032/3.
If it goes ahead the project would first see London and Birmingham connected under the £50bn HS2 development.
Mr Osborne was set to use a keynote speech to say he wanted travelling through towns and cities in the northern belt to be as easy as moving around a major global metropolis as part of a plan to help them “take on the world”.
But those efforts would not include Liverpool, in a move set to add to fears the city would miss out on the full economic benefits of HS2 and HS3.
Mayor Joe Anderson has previously said it would be "economic madness" for Liverpool to miss out.
And concerns about links between northern cities were raised in a report by HS2 Ltd’s chairman Sir David Higgins earlier this year.
Mr Osborne was set say HS2 as currently planned would “change the economic geography of our country” and mean London and Manchester were an hour apart, but will add: “we must do much more to connect our northern cities”.
In a speech in Manchester Mr Osborne was set to say: “We need an ambitious plan to make the cities and towns here in this northern belt radically more connected from east to west - to create the equivalent of travelling around a single global city.
“As well as fixing the roads, that means considering a new high speed rail link.
“Today I want us to start thinking about whether to build a new high-speed rail connection east-west from Manchester to Leeds.”
The proposed line would be based on the existing rail route between the cities.
Mr Osborne was set to say London’s dominance was “not healthy” for the economy and a northern counterbalance was needed.
He was to add: “The cities of the North are individually strong, but collectively not strong enough,” he will say.
“The whole is less than the sum of its parts. So the powerhouse of London dominates more and more.
“And that’s not healthy for our economy. It’s not good for our country."
He will say that in a “modern, knowledge-based, economy, city size matters like never before”.
Shadow chancellor Ed Balls said: “Nobody will believe the Tories can deliver the jobs, growth and investment we need for the north of England.
“Regional growth divides have widened markedly since 2010. The Tories scrapped Labour’s successful regional development agencies, failed to implement Lord Heseltine’s growth report and are planning to cut infrastructure investment next year.”
He added: “On high-speed rail, we said months ago that we need value for money for the taxpayer and to improve the existing plans to maximise the benefits for the whole country and strengthen the links between northern cities. Ministers need finally to start listening.”
Liverpool Echo 23/06/14
