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Keir Starmer’s plans for a new Northern rail link have already hit the buffers after it emerged that work won’t begin for 10 years. The government said the line between Birmingham and Manchester is part of a major overhaul of infrastructure in the North.

A previous plan to extend HS2 between the cities was scrapped by Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government in October 2023 to save money. The Treasury insisted the new link would not be “a reinstatement of HS2” and it would ease pressure on the West Coast Main Line. But work is not expected to begin until the £45 billion wider overhaul of east-west northern rail links is finished in 2036.

The first phase of the programme would improve connections between Sheffield and Leeds; between Leeds and York; and between Leeds and Bradford.

Development work would also be taken forward on reopening the Leamside Line, a 21-mile route between Pelaw, Gateshead, and Tursdale, County Durham, which was closed in 1964.

A second phase of NPR would involve a new route between Liverpool and Manchester via Manchester airport and Warrington.

The third and final phase involved better connections across the Pennines between Manchester, Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield and York.

Regular services would run on to Newcastle via Darlington and Durham, and Chester for North Wales connections.

The Prime minister said: “Over and over again, people in northern communities, from Liverpool and Manchester to York and Newcastle have been let down by broken promises.

“This cycle has to end. No more paying lip service to the potential of the North, but backing it to the hilt.

“That’s why this Government is rolling up its sleeves to deliver real, lasting change for millions of people through Northern Powerhouse Rail: a major new rail network across the North that will deliver faster, more frequent services.”

Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, seen by many as a leadership rival to Sir Keir, backed the plan, saying: “Finally, we have a government with an ambitious vision for the North, firm commitment to Northern Powerhouse Rail and an openness to an underground station in Manchester city centre.”

Jerome Mayhew, Shadow Rail Minister, said: “Labour lurch from review to review, deadline to deadline, with no grip on costs, no clarity on scope and no courage to make decisions, exemplified nowhere clearer than the hatchet job of Great British Railways.

“Northern Powerhouse Rail could have been transformational, empowering regional growth and regeneration. “Under Labour it risks becoming a permanent mirage that is endlessly redesigned, downgraded and never delivered.”