Another dollop of catch-up ketchup misses the target. – Owl

An official social media post boasting that money earmarked for transport improvements in the north would be spent on road repairs in London has been criticised by MPs and local leaders.

Ben Clatworthy, Aubrey Allegretti www.thetimes.co.uk

The Department for Transport (DfT) posted a graphic celebrating the new Network North project, which will pump £235 million into improving roads in the capital.

The poster also claims the money has become available because of Rishi Sunak’s decision to cancel HS2’s northern leg from Birmingham to Manchester.

The prime minister insisted the £36 billion saved by not finishing the project would go towards the Network North plans, which include more than 100 regional transport projects.

However, the money earmarked would only be spent between 2029 and 2040, during the period it would have been used to build HS2’s route from the West Midlands to Crewe and from Crewe to Manchester.

Louise Haigh, the shadow transport secretary, said: “When Rishi Sunak went to Manchester to cancel the northern leg of HS2 he claimed he would ‘join up our great towns and cities in the north and the Midlands’. Now he is promising to repair roads in London as part of a ‘Network North’, showing just how ludicrously out of touch he is.”

The DfT faced a backlash on social media while MPs and local leaders in the north were left bemused.

Andy Burnham, the mayor of Greater Manchester, said: “Network North seems to include everywhere — except the north.”

Steve Rotheram, the mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said: “Unless Network North is shorthand for Network North Circular, I really fail to see how fixing roads in London will help to improve journey times between Liverpool and Manchester, get more freight onto rail, or make a jot of difference to a single person in the north.

“It’s more smoke and mirrors from the government. A PR stunt from a photo-op prime minister who is more interested in shiny graphics for social media than tackling the issues facing real people.”

Ben Bradley, the Conservative MP for Mansfield and leader of Nottinghamshire county council, told colleagues in a private WhatsApp group that sending a message that “we scrapped £9 billion of investment in the Midlands and north to invest in London roads” was “not helpful”.

Sarah Dines, a former minister and Tory MP for Derbyshire Dales, also complained that the news was “good for London but my constituents are revolting”. She posted a picture of a pothole with the caption: “Virtually everywhere in Derbyshire”.

Dines added: “We have had extra money in Derbyshire for potholes, but this is peanuts compared to London. I have had a flood of emails today. What do I say?”

Andy Carter, the Tory MP for Warrington South, Cheshire, and aide to Mark Harper, the transport secretary, was on the receiving end of the backlash after he announced news of the funding to the “Transport Support Group” of Tory MPs.

“Positive news for London colleagues — fixing potholes in the capital,” he said.

Carter told Dines he believed that Derbyshire had had a 30 per cent increase in road repair funding.

Critics of the decision to scrap HS2 questioned the claim that the London funding — £7.5 million made available between now and March, followed by a further £7.5 million in 2024-25, with the remainder extending until 2034 — was made possible by axing the scheme.

Henri Murison, the chief executive of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, said: “Having cancelled the northern section of HS2, it is important to be straight with the public about where the money is really going.

“I do not critique previously promised essential road maintenance in London and short-term bus fare incentives across England. However, as Phase 2 of HS2 had already been delayed so much so little money can be saved to cover the immediate revenue and capital commitments included here that it seems implausible.”

Sunak has previously been forced to defend pumping money from HS2 into projects in the south of England.

He told the BBC: “I’m not apologising for the fact that Bristol and the West Country or the south of England is going to get more money as a result of this decision. It’s not a criticism that these things are not in the north.”

The government published plans for Network North, including a full list of projects, immediately following Sunak’s announcement that the northern leg of HS2 was cancelled at the Tory party conference in October.

However, some pages were quickly deleted including some where the government pledged to “revolutionise mass transit in Bristol”. A page about reopening Transport North East’s Leamside Line was also removed.

Harper said that “every penny of the £19.8 billion committed to the northern leg of HS2 will be reinvested in the north”.

He added: “Every penny of the £9.6 billion committed to the Midlands leg will be reinvested in the Midlands. The full £6.5 billion saved through our re-scoped approach at Euston will be spread across every other region in the country.”