MPs could team up for rail campaign

OLDHAM MPs are being asked to join colleagues across the Pennines to form a group to campaign for a better railway deal for the North of England.

Michael Meacher and Phil Woolas have been invited by Sheffield MP Angela Smith — a campaigner to save the Woodhead Tunnel — to a meeting in the House of Commons on March 2 to discuss a push for greater railway investment in the North.

She says in a letter to northern MPs from all parties: “For some time I have been concerned that the North has been poorly placed in terms of rail investment, particularly when compared with London and the South-East.

“Of course, London has particular needs as the capital, but the differential in investment now appears beyond reasonable justification.”

She has the support of the five northern integrated transport authorities — Greater Manchester, Merseyside, South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and Tyne and Wear — as well as the Northern Way group of regional development agencies and the Manchester-based North West Rail Campaign.

Her move comes as a row rages between the Department for Transport and the regions over the shortage of rolling stock to address critical overcrowding,the imminent publication of Network Rail’s “Manchester hub” report which is expected to address rail congestion around the city which affects the whole of the North, recent electrification announcements and high-speed rail plans.

Her letter adds: “I hope that the meeting will be able to agree what actions we can take — including whether we should set up an all-party group following the general election.”

There have been complaints in the past from some Yorkshire authorities that the North-West is taking more investment than other regions in the North. But Mrs Smith said: “More MPs are recognising that unity is everything. The war of the Roses is over — but I do wish we could start calling the Manchester hub the Northern hub because that is what it is.”

Blackley MP Graham Stringer, a member of the Commons Transport Committee, said: “This will not happen without the support of the Yorkshire ITAs and they have agreed that they can’t just latch on to the North-West .”

Roger Jones, director of the North West Rail Campaign, said: “We have been saying for years that the North has been badly done to and this is a great chance to do something about it.”