The Prime Minister used his speech at the Tory party conference last week to push his message about levelling up, but once again, we’re seeing that he is all words with no action.

Reports that the government is planning to cut back the Northern Powerhouse Rail routes and are scrapping high-speed cross-country links are worrying for the North of England. For years passengers across the North of England have been forced to endure poor rail services which do not provide the connectivity or capacity needed. While those in the South of England are benefiting from the £19 billion Crossrail project. This is not levelling up!

The Tories promised to level up the country in their 2019 election manifesto, but we now know that this is all talk and another broken election promise. They have no intention of investing in the North of England.

If we’re going to go some way towards addressing the urgent climate crisis and encouraging more people to use public transport instead of their cars, then we urgently need to upgrade our rail services and provide passengers with the service and connectivity they deserve.