The Government says it will soon “set out further details on our plans for Northern Powerhouse Rail,” NPR, a new high-speed scheme from Liverpool to Manchester and Leeds. It has recently been briefed to journalists – and not denied – that ministers will commit to this scheme, or at least the Liverpool-Manchester section of it, at or before this month’s Labour Party conference.

 

But NPR is a project which achieves the difficult feat of making HS2 look sensible. The journey on it from Liverpool to Manchester, for instance, would actually take longer than on the existing service. This report – with a Foreword by the Deputy Leader of Reform UK, Richard Tice MP – sets out a series of alternative schemes which would deliver more, to more people, in more places, more quickly.