A Reform government would axe any high-speed rail schemes earmarked for the north, the party’s deputy leader has warned.
Richard Tice said companies considering bidding for contracts should “not bother” as the party would “spend the money instead on things the country needs more”.
Labour is expected this month to announce it is reviving Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR), with leading figures backing a new £17bn Liverpool-Manchester line as a first step in a full railway running across the north.
The NPR scheme was originally backed by the previous government – but the line linking Liverpool and Manchester was due to share parts of the HS2 northern leg axed by Rishi Sunak in 2023.
Labour has yet to confirm its plans but the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, hinted at news in her budget speech, and sources last month told the Guardian that the government would announce its commitment before the start of the party conference, shoring up northern support.
However, with Reform now polling substantially higher, the party’s intervention could place any scheme in further doubt.
Tice made the comments in the foreword to a highly critical report for Policy Exchange, which was written by the former no 10 transport adviser and long-term opponent of HS2, Andrew Gilligan.
Tice said the view of politicians such as the Greater Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham, that high-speed rail would win support for Labour was “diametrically wrong”. He said: “Outside a bubble of politicians, journalists and construction industry lobbyists, the voters of the north do not want, and never have wanted, a handful of high-speed rail lines, serving a handful of big cities … They want the money to be spent on the often failing railways (and roads) that they actually use.”
He said ministers were “about to commit to further high-speed rail schemes which could make HS2’s problems and price tag look trivial”.
He added: “To anyone tempted to bid for the Liverpool-Manchester high-speed scheme, or the revived northern leg of HS2, I give this warning: do not bother.”
Gilligan’s report claimed that journeys between the cities on the high-speed line would take one minute longer than current train services because the new line would serve Manchester airport.
He said tunnelling under Manchester city centre to link conventional lines would be a better option, creating a network serving destinations east to Bradford, Leeds and Sheffield.
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Henri Murison, the chief executive of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, said threats to scrap proposed links would hold back jobs, investment and productivity. He said: “The chancellor is on the brink of putting forward a plan to build a modern, reliable rail network that northern businesses and communities have been calling for. For Reform to propose scrapping this network before it’s even been properly set out shows how irresponsible they are.
“They clearly expect they have northern voters in the bag, but the economic harm they would impose will worry those who care about their children and grandchildren’s future.”
The NPR plan that Labour is expected to endorse would also revive part of the planned HS2 construction between Crewe and Manchester – raising the prospect, for both supporters and opponents of the high-speed rail scheme, that a future government might again extend HS2 from Birmingham and London to northern cities.
A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “The north has been stuck with second-rate transport for too long, leaving communities cut off and holding back growth. The government is delivering the transport infrastructure needed for faster and more reliable journeys to create jobs and deliver stronger growth.
“We will set out our ambitions for Northern Powerhouse Rail in the near future.”
