“We will be making the biggest ever investment by a British government in transport links within our city regions and their surrounding towns” said the Chancellor Rachel Reeves as she launched unveils £15bn for trams, trains and buses outside of London.
“The last government made big promises to invest in city regions. We heard it all, but they had no plan to fund.’ she said
Our plan is to make our country better off,” she said pledging to boost living standards and revive public services after “14 wasted years.” adding
“I can tell you today that we will be making the biggest ever investment by a British government in transport links within our city regions and surrounding towns.”
The Government has announced new transport projects to be backed by the Treasury as part of a £15.6 billion package for mayoral authorities.
Across Greater Manchester, there will be an extension of the tram system to Stockport and there will be new tram stops at Sandhill’s, Cop Lane in Oldham and at Eldon Reservoir between Bury and Radcliffe and tram-train services connecting Oldham, Rochdale, Heywood and Bury
The region’s Bee Network will become fully electric by 2030, including through the purchase of 1,000 new electric buses.
Local rail lines will be integrated with the Bee Network, with Greater Manchester communities the first outside London to be served by fully joined-up bike, bus, tram and train travel by the end of the decade. The move will see major improvements to stations, including making more fully accessible, as well as capped fares.
Asked though about the new railway line between Manchester and Liverpool, the Chancellor refused to commit only telling reporters that they would hear more in next week’s spending review
Ahead of next week’s spending review the Chancellor said “We will make you and your family better off,” promising a spending review next week focused on security, health, and growth – with investment spread across the whole country, not just a few.
Reeves ruled out increasing income tax, NI and VAT for ‘working people’ in the autumn Budget, saying she will stick to her manifesto pledges despite tight public finances but suggested that winter fuel plans won’t be released until the Budget, suggesting payments are unlikely to get to pensioners this year
Answering questions after the speech she told reporters that we won’t have a budget on the scale of last year’s again
“Yes. We made decisions in the budget to increase taxes by 40bn, I have absolutely no intention of repeating a budget on that scale again. I’ve now drawn a line under that economic mismanagement… I’ll be allocating funds based on the settlement last year.”
