Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson was at the Labour Party conference in Manchester yesterday, with the primary aim of seeing Liverpool included in the UK’s upcoming High Speed rail network.
Anderson put forth the case for the city at a fringe meeting at Manchester Town Hall, with the hopes of convincing influential attendees, including shadow infrastructure minister Lord Adonis. Anderson was expected to state that unless Liverpool is given greater inclusion then current High Speed rail plans will not fully deliver on the claimed economic benefits, both to the city and nationwide.
Anderson will also attend next week’s Conservative Party conference in Birmingham to continue the argument for Liverpool as a part of High Speed rail plans.
In advance of yesterday’s conference, Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson said:
“I will be lobbying both the Labour and Conservative Parties about why Liverpool must be added to the HS2 network
“I was one of the first to make the case for HS2 and before details of HS2 were even released I was calling for HS3 running west to east from Liverpool to Newcastle and Hull.
“It is not just about passenger numbers, it is about freight, capacity and growth for the future, the future for us as cities, the future for us as Northerners and the future for us as British citizens.”
Words: Peter Cribley