Rail cuts: Ministers and Network Rail have questions to answer

Three months ago today, David Cameron and George Osborne unveiled a manifesto that made this promise to voters:

“Electrification of the railways is a key part of our investment programme, with work already underway across the North [and] the Midlands.”

Yet we now know, as the BBC reported yesterday, that this pledge was already being broken. At Network Rail’s Board meeting on March 19^th, senior executives agreed to:

“The decisions required jointly with the DfT re enhancement deferrals from June.”

This is the first unequivocal proof that the indefinite “pausing” of the programmes to electrify the Midland Main Line and the TransPennine between Manchester and York – which has become universally known as the Northern Power Cut – was planned before the election.

As Labour warned before the election, the Government’s rail investment plans are now in serious trouble, and there is a threat of further cuts to come. Ministers need to set out exactly what they knew and when – from the Prime Minister to the Transport Secretary, Patrick McLoughlin – as my colleague Michael Dugher has rightfully said.

Network Rail faces serious questions too. That is why I have today written to Mark Carne, the organisation’s Chief Executive, to demand answers.

I have written to Mark Carne because it is still not clear what he and other officials told Transport Ministers before the election. He was at the meeting in March when Network Rail started to prepare the shutdown of essential projects. He was also at earlier meetings, when it was warned that there were deep concerns over the “affordability” and “deliverability” of the Government’s investment programme.

Crucially, Network Rail’s Chief Executive is “personally responsible to Parliament for Network Rail’s stewardship of public funds.” When he spoke about electrification plans last week, he also said that “we have to level with the public about just how difficult this task is.”

The truth is that Network Rail levelled with neither the public nor with Parliament before the election. We now urgently need to know whether Mark Carne was acting under political instruction, or whether he withheld important information from Ministers as their public statements imply.

The “pausing” of these two projects does not just make a mockery of the Government’s commitment to building a “Northern Powerhouse” and a “Midlands Engine.” It also calls into question the conduct of senior Ministers, and the sincerity and integrity of the bargain that the Conservatives sought to strike with the electorate.

And until Ministers come clean on the extent of their involvement, Labour will not stop demanding answers.

Lilian Greenwood is the MP for Nottingham South and the Shadow Rail Minister