Holden: Government is not neglecting transport in the North
The transport minister, Richard Holden, insists that the government is not neglecting the North, despite looming questions over the fate of HS2. The minister blames spiralling construction costs of the new high speed rail line on inflation, sparked, Holden claims, by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Report by Covellm. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
Transcript
00:00 We've put huge investment into the north of England, over £33 billion pledged and currently
00:04 ongoing already.
00:06 I was up in Manchester just a few days ago with Andy Burnham at the over £1 billion
00:10 that we've put into that new bus network, integrating the metro system and the buses
00:15 right across Greater Manchester.
00:17 There's no question of government investment in the north of England.
00:21 Growing up, I remember the pace of trains which had been there for decades, which Labour
00:25 had let on a zero growth basis.
00:27 We've seen transformation in those services more recently and electrification happening
00:31 right across the north of England.
00:33 So this is about getting it right and ensuring that those costs are kept under control.
00:38 What you've seen is costs, because of the Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine, construction
00:43 costs particularly for aggregates have gone absolutely through the roof.
00:47 So we're seeing inflation running at more than double the level that you see in the
00:50 supermarket.
00:51 I think it's right that whenever in that situation we look more broadly and in the
00:54 around at keeping those costs under control.