Backing Northern Powerhouse Rail

Business leaders from across the North have signed an open letter, encouraging the Government to support Northern Powerhouse Rail. The letter - and a complete list of signatories - is below.

This letter is hosted by Mace as a founding member of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership. 

"Connecting our great cities of the North with a world-class, higher capacity rail network is not only fundamental to the success of the Northern Powerhouse, it is fundamental to the success of the entire country. 

"We’re calling on the government to back this success, and back Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR).

"In the Industrial Strategy Green Paper earlier this year the government officially acknowledged the historic underinvestment in northern infrastructure and promised to tackle it.

"Implementing Northern Powerhouse Rail would be transformational for businesses in the North, driving productivity and attracting 850,000 new jobs to the region by 2050. It would create a transformational legacy of investment for the North of England the likes of which has not been seen before.

"We are calling on the government to show its continued commitment to Northern Powerhouse Rail in the Autumn Budget, alongside a step change investment in the wider road and rail corridors which link the key economic assets of the North. This crucial, pan-Northern infrastructure of Northern Powerhouse Rail, our Crossrail for the North, would significantly cut journey times, for example providing a no more than 30-minute commute between Leeds and Manchester and less than 60 minutes between Leeds and Newcastle, and have a dramatic impact on the UK economy. 

"The government itself has acknowledged and shown the potential improvement in national productivity from this, as well as other policy initiatives. This transformational investment in connectivity, from Liverpool across to Sheffield, Hull and Newcastle, is the long-term solution the North needs. 

"The current poor connectivity in the North is a major obstacle to encouraging companies from growing in the region and is a barrier to inward investment. According to Transport for the North (TfN), less than 10,000 people in the North can access four or more of the North’s largest economic centres within an hour. This would rise to 1.3 million once is delivered. It would also create fast, frequent connections between the North’s core cities and Manchester Airport. 

"We urge the government to re-state its commitment to Northern Powerhouse Rail as a matter of priority. Without it the vision for a genuine Northern Powerhouse to rebalance our country’s economy and make UK plc prosper for decades to come cannot be delivered.

"We are passionate believers that this is not just a Northern issue, it is a UK issue. It should not be seen as Crossrail 2 in London versus Northern Powerhouse Rail; both schemes are vital for Britain’s future." 

Yours sincerely,