Tag Archives: trans-pennine

What are the Tories hiding in their Northern Poorhouse?

By Sarah Noble | Mon 28th December 2015 - 3:50 pm

I’ve previously written about the shambolic “Northern Powerhouse” as promoted by the Tories, particularly in relation to the “pause” in the electrification project on the Trans-Pennine Lines. It’s a personal subject for me, living between the two lines that run from Leeds to Manchester, filled with trains barely fit for purpose when they were introduced.

As someone who lives in Osborne’s “Northern Powerhouse”, I have a right to know if the Tories were lying to us when they promised unprecedented infrastructure spending. If it was known in the industry that the electrification of the Great Western Main Line would mean that electrification in the North would have to be delayed, then ministers almost certainly knew. But voters were not told when they went to the ballot box in May.

So I used the best tool in the arsenal of any activist: the Freedom of Information request. Back in July, I asked for the minutes of any meetings between the Department for Transport and Network Rail regarding “the delay of electrification of the Manchester–Leeds via Huddersfield line”. Then I waited and waited.