Tory plans to spend £4.2bn of new spending on local train, bus and tram services including extending Manchester’s Metrolink service to Bolton and Stockport have come under fire.
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said it would transform services “in towns and cities across the country”.
The Local Public Transport Fund would “kickstart the transformation of services so they match those in London”.
This would ensure “more frequent and better services, more electrification, modern buses and trains and contactless smart ticketing”. the Transport Secretary added.
The Liberal Democrats have responded to the Conservative Metrolink expansion pledge, slamming it as ‘desperate bait for the North’.
They have warned this is incompatible with taking the UK out of the EU, given the system has been funded by the European Regional Development Fund and said the Tories should consider addressing the “breathtaking imbalance” in transport subsidy between London and the North.
Analysis from IPPR showed that London got £1,500 per head more than the North for transport in 2016/17.
The investment, which would be funded through the party’s decision not to cut corporation tax, would go to eight mayoral or combined authority areas in England.
They include the North East, Tees Valley, West Yorkshire, Sheffield City Region, Greater Manchester, Liverpool City Region, West Midlands and West of England.
Other schemes would include a new metro or light rail in West Yorkshire, including to Dewsbury, Pudsey and the Spen Valley, upgrades to the Tyne & Wear Metro and new heavy rail lines in the North East and extensions to the West Midlands Metro tram, including to Solihull and Birmingham Airport
