GOVERNMENT CONTINUES TO TREAT YORKSHIRE AS AN AFTERTHOUGHT

8.16.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Wed 26th Aug 2009

Greg Mulholland MP for Leeds North West has been leading a cross party group of MPs in a campaign for the introduction of High Speed Rail to Yorkshire. Greg has reacted to today's announcement that Network Rail's plans to introduce a high speed rail network to the United Kingdom do not include a direct link between Yorkshire and London.

The plans are for a West Coast mainline between London and Glasgow.

Commenting Greg said:

"If the government choose to introduce high speed rail exclusively on the west coast it will be yet again another stunning example of the way in which they continue to refuse to invest in transport for Yorkshire and the Humber.

"Time and again we find ourselves bottom of the national league tables in terms of transport spending. Now we have the news that cities such as Leeds, Sheffield and Newcastle will not benefit from the new high speed rail line.

Cities in Yorkshire and the Humber will not benefit from the obvious economic benefits of high speed rail if the Government does not rethink these plans. We must keep campaigning and continue to make the strong economic case for High Speed Rail on the east side of the country.

I do not know why Network Rail has ignored the plan by high speed north to build a line along side the M1 which was estimated to cost £15 billion, a fraction of the cost of this west coast line."