Labour to wield axe with 36 rail projects under threat

Transport secretary Louise Haigh - who previously criticised Sunak for 'great rail betrayal' of HS2 - forced to make cuts

- ALBERT TOTH

Sixteen new train stations and 250 miles of railway lines that would benefit millions of passengers are on a list of projects at risk of being scrapped as Labour tries to plug a £22bn budget black hole, The Independent can reveal.

The full list of 36 schemes includes several where work has already begun as part of Boris Johnson's now ditched £500m restoring your railways (RYR) initiative. The north of England and the South West are the areas set to be hit hardest if all the plans are axed in chancellor Rachel Reeves' autumn Budget, with the long-awaited Portishead to Bristol line and the muchdelayed White Rose station in Leeds among those at risk.

The chancellor announced in July that Labour would be cancelling the RYR programme but individual schemes would be reconsidered in a review by transport secretary Louise Haigh, in a bid to save £85m. Ms Haigh previously branded Rishi Sunak's move to scrap the HS2 leg between Birmingham and Manchester first revealed by The Independent - "a great rail betrayal," but now finds herself wielding the axe.

Responding to the revelations, the Campaign for Better Transport's Stephen Goss called it "a backward step”. "We were very disappointed at the announcement because Labour had been promising before the election that they were going to 'get Britain moving"," he said. "So when it was announced that they were scrapping at the fund, which aims at expanding the railway network, it seemed backwards from what they have been promising and proposing."

Also revealed to be under threat are the Fleetwood railway line, and stations in Deeside, Haxby, Edginswell, St Clears and Thorpe Park (Leeds). Most of the projects are located in the North, with 16 railway lines and five stations. This is followed by the South West, which has seen six lines and eight stations placed at risk.