Speaking in Parliament, Imran Hussain MP has urged the Government to commit to building the Northern Powerhouse Rail line in full to get more carbon-emitting vehicles off the region’s roads and help meet the UK’s climate obligations.

Imran made the demand during Parliamentary questions to Alok Sharma MP, the President of the 26^th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP-26), which is to be hosted by the UK in November this year and aims to bring nations together to accelerate action towards the goals of the Paris Climate Agreement and the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.

During his question, Imran spoke of the vital importance of good public transport links in helping to reduce the number of carbon-emitting vehicles off our roads to help meet the UK’s climate obligations and set a strong, positive example for the rest of the world ahead of COP-26, but highlighted that transport networks, particularly rail, were “woeful” and “not fit for purpose” in the North of England following decades of underinvestment, hampering efforts to get more people onto public transport.

Following reports that the Department for Transport is preparing to scale back the scope of the Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) line which was originally proposed to link the major Northern cities of Liverpool, Manchester, Bradford and Leeds, Imran has, therefore, urged the President of the Conference to back his calls for the NPR line to be built in full, including a Bradford City Centre Station, to help get more cars off the region’s roads and set out a bold commitment to reduce carbon emissions ahead of COP-26 in November.

Speaking on his call for the Government to build Northern Powerhouse Rail in full to help meet the UK’s climate obligations, Imran said:

“Climate change is one of the biggest threats that we face as a planet, and key to being able to meet our climate obligations and demonstrating to the rest of the world ahead of the international UN Climate Change Conference hosted by the UK in November that we are taking this issue seriously is investing in public transport links to get more carbon-emitting vehicles off our roads.

“However, after being woefully underfunded for decades, public transport across the North has been left with outdated and inadequate infrastructure that is unable to rise to the challenge of boosting public transport usage, and whilst rail investment can help undo some of the damage caused, it is only building Northern Powerhouse Rail in full, including a stop in Bradford, that we can reverse it.

“It’s therefore deeply alarming that despite being key to encouraging economic growth in cities like Bradford and reducing the number of carbon-emitting vehicles on our roads, the Transport Secretary is reportedly planning to scale back investment in Northern Powerhouse Rail, and why I urged the President of the Climate Change Conference to commit his backing to the scheme.”