A new report from right-leaning think tank Policy Exchange which has been endorsed by Reform UK proposes the scrapping of Northern Powerhouse Rail, triggering a political storm.

Reform’s deputy leader Richard Tice says companies considering bidding for contracts to build NPR should ‘not bother’, because a Reform government would scrap it.

The main report, ‘Instead of highspeed rail: Northern transport schemes that will work’  has been written by former Daily Telegraph and BBC journalist Andrew Gilligan, a long-standing critic of HS2 who was special adviser to Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak.

The report says: ‘Even as she pledges to “draw a line in the sand” under the failures of HS2, the transport secretary, Heidi Alexander, is preparing an even greater train crash. Even as she publishes a report criticising her predecessors for rushing into immature schemes for political reasons, and making promises they could not keep, Alexander is about to do precisely the same.’

Mr Tice has highlighted plans like Northern Powerhouse Rail and a potential revival of HS2 to Manchester. He said: ‘The mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, has said that promising to build them would be a “strong northern story” for Labour to address the challenge of Reform, tackling “why voters feel so alienated from the system.” I am certain that is diametrically wrong.’

The report proposes some alternative schemes, including a Manchester Crossrail.

Mr Tice concludes: ‘That is the choice: tens of billions freed to spend on conventional rail and roads that help ordinary folk get to work – or another two decades of failure and waste.’

Andy Burnham has rejected these conclusions and has accused Reform of wanted a ‘second-class railway’ for the north of England.

Policy Exchange also claimed the ‘crisis in HS2 is even worse than ministers admit’, as the ‘true cost’ for the line between London and Birmingham is ‘up to 22 per cent’ higher than MPs were told.

HS2 Ltd responded: ‘We do not recognise these claims. HS2 Ltd is committed to the highest levels of transparency and our accounts are extensively audited by the National Audit Office.’

Mayor Andy Burnham alleged that Reform’s leaders are ‘creatures of the London establishment’ and that he was not surprised ‘in the slightest’ to hear of their opposition to NPR.

He continued: ‘Across Europe, every other country connects its big cities by modern high-speed rail.

‘But, like the Conservatives before them, the Reform party seems to believe that this should be a privilege only conferred on the southern half of the UK. We have higher ambitions for the North than them.’

The Department for Transport said: ‘The North has been stuck with second-rate transport for too long, leaving communities cut off and holding back growth.

‘The government is delivering the transport infrastructure needed for faster and more reliable journeys to create jobs and deliver stronger growth, such as the Transpennine Route Upgrade which is already delivering more efficient journeys between Manchester, Huddersfield, Leeds and York.

‘We will set out our ambitions for Northern Powerhouse Rail in the near future.’

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