• 19.01.2026

Northern Powerhouse Rail is back on track. We think...

A moody duo, mayors Steve Rotheram and Andy Burnham, after a train to Liverpool was cancelled in 2024. Photo: X

After years of development hell, will Merseyside benefit from the government's latest rail plans?

Dear readers — Laurence here, and welcome to a jam-packed Monday edition. The second half of last week saw more breaking than a scrap metal yard, so there’s plenty for us to catch you up on. The big story today is about the Northern Powerhouse Rail, a subject dear to my heart as someone reliant on public transport. But we also have tropical plants, councillor defections, dying Victorian pubs, the Tour de France and the latest on the Hillsborough Law.

But first, a shout out to our weekend read: The Clockmaker of Wavertree, a very human story about a mechanical profession and pastime. Sometimes, when a colleague finds a great subject, you feel a faint stab of envy — followed by relief and admiration when you finally read it and realise they’ve done a far better job with it than you could’ve. In Abi’s handling, there’s something wonderful about the subtle motif of time’s passage throughout the story that lifted it above the ordinary. If you haven’t already, find time (no pun intended) to read it today.

I don’t know about you, but weeks like last week make me wish The Post could put out more editions. It’s hard to only be able to read important local stories in either clickbait format or by national reporters. Part of our ambitious goals for 2026 is to better serve the Liverpool city region by giving you wider and deeper coverage. But in order to do that, we need more of you on our free list. If you're reading this, you're yet to join The Post's mailing list. So please, click the button below and sign up today to receive free stories from us every week.

The big story: Northern Powerhouse Rail is back on track. We think

Top line: The government has backed the Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) programme to the tune of £45bn. But after over a decade of development hell already, how can we be sure this is definitely happening? And how will Merseyside stand to benefit?

Context: Last year, we reported on a joint project between the Liverpool and Manchester mayors’ offices. The “Northern Arc” would be an attempt to improve transport connections and stimulate economic success across the north.

As part of this proposal, the Liverpool-Manchester Railway Board co-chaired by Liverpool City Region Combined Authority mayor Steve Rotheram and Greater Manchester counterpart Andy Burnham laid out plans for a “growth corridor”. No, that’s not a hallway from a body-horror flick, but a region with strong economic links. The Arc would be reliant on the LMR: a new rail service linking Liverpool and Manchester.

As opposed to the existing Liverpool and Manchester railway built just before the Victorian era, the new LMR would dispatch services between the cities every 10 minutes, with the 29-mile travel time closer to the half-hour mark, versus just under an hour currently to Piccadilly.

According to the Architects’ Journal, it’s not currently clear whether NPR will take into consideration work already done on the LMR or larger Northern Arc project. But mayor Rotheram’s office don’t seem too concerned, claiming NPR “will reduce journey times” in the north to more in line with southern rail travel, citing a 35-mile Paddington to Reading journey of just 22 minutes.

Responding to the NPR news, the combined authority said the project would be central to creating a growth corridor between Liverpool and York, with “the potential to rival [...] the Rhine-Ruhr region in Germany and the Randstad in the Netherlands.”

The different phases of the NPR. Source: LCRCA

These different phases would begin with improved links between Sheffield and Leeds; Leeds and York; and Leeds and Bradford. Later phases would include a new Liverpool-to-Manchester route via Manchester Airport and Warrington, and upgraded routes across the Pennines.

If you would like to know how more ways that NPR proposes to “deliver”, “unlock”, “diversify”, “connect”, “develop” and “improve” for the North West, but explained in the form of some insane CGI version of Monopoly, the Combined Authority has also released a video.

The east-west connectivity across the north, linking Liverpool, Manchester, Warrington, Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield and York, has been billed by ministers as a potentially transformational upgrade.

But will it actually happen? Hanging over this project is the ghost of HS2, the northern leg of which was cancelled in 2023. Like NPR, that scheme went through multiple governments, each of whom made their own amendments and suggestions, before HS2 North was finally canned under former prime minister Rishi Sunak’s premiership.

Current prime minister Keir Starmer says his government is “backing [NPR] to the hilt.” As a student at Leeds University, Starmer says he saw “first hand what underinvestment and empty pledges do to cities across the north” and that “people in northern communities, from Liverpool and Manchester to York and Newcastle, have been let down by broken promises.”

This is the same Starmer government, however, that have mangled the delivery of the Hillsborough Law — see the Post briefing below for further details. And there is no guarantee that Starmer will see out this parliament as prime minister: much will rely on the local elections later this year, the polling for which suggests Labour are in for a tough set of results.

And even if Starmer survives the year, or a successor renews Labour’s commitment to NPR, the next general election is due in 2029 — a year before the early phases of NPR are due to commence. If any other party wins, there is no guarantee that this project will survive.

Bottom line: State-of-the-art trains, faster travel times, and veritable corridors of growth up and down our country. It all sounds… really good?

Whatever we’ve written in the past about being in Manchester’s growing shadow, this country’s lopsided reliance on London has long-since been recognised as part of a very big problem. Three years ago, the European Cities Growth Index identified a widening gap between the capital and regional cities, with Bristol as the only exception. Compare this with Germany, where Munich and Stuttgart outpace Berlin, with Frankfurt and Hamburg not far behind. Liverpool may never be Frankfurt, but better connectivity with Leeds, Newcastle and Manchester can only help the latter grow as a counterweight to south-eastern dominance, and the other cities fulfil their currently untapped potential.

That’s, of course, if NPR doesn’t go the way of HS2 North or innumerable other promising public transport initiatives.

What do you think about this investment? Will Merseyside actually see the benefits? Let us know in the comments.

Your Post Briefing

The government has withdrawn an amendment to its “Hillsborough Law” after a backlash from campaigners and some Labour MPs. As we reported last week, the “duty of candour” clause in the bill will not fully apply to employees of the security services. West Derby MP Ian Byrne said he could vote against the Hillsborough Law, and families of the victims of the Manchester Arena bombing said they could not support the law with the loophole for MI5, MI6 and GCHQ employees included. In a statement posted to social media, Byrne agreed that this would “allow the very cover-ups exposed by the Manchester Area enquiry” and that to support the bill would be to abandon those families, as well as victims of the Chinook disaster and nuclear test veterans. In response to Byrne’s statement, Sky News deputy political editor Sam Coates remarked “this is a much bigger political risk to Starmer than many realise.” The latest move was welcomed by Hillsborough Law Now campaign group, which will "engage further with government to ensure the bill fully applies to the security services whilst not jeopardising national security". To read our interview with Byrne on the importance of the Hillsborough Law, click here.

They may not be Robert Jenrick, but three Wirral councillors have defected to Reform. Husband and wife Kathryn and Andrew Hodson and Graham Davies, who represent the Heswall, Gayton and Barnston wards, left the borough's Conservative party last year and rebranded as “independent Conservatives”. Now, they will become Reform’s first group on the local authority. They say they left the Conservative party as "it has moved away from its core principles and we no longer have confidence in the Tories' ability to govern". No party currently has overall control of Wirral Borough Council, which will not hold local elections in May — meaning Davies and the Hodsons will not face the electorate until 2027.

The Tour de France is coming to Liverpool! Next year's stage will pass through a devastating course in Cumbria and Lancashire before finishing in Liverpool, meaning locals will get a chance to stand at a railing for hours to see their favourite lycra-clad leg-pumpers for ten seconds or so. "I'm really looking forward to seeing it, it's a really tough route they're gonna have to cover before they get to the iconic waterfront in Liverpool, " said Wirral-born Chris Boardman, who donned the leader's prized yellow jersey in the 1998 Tour. "And so I'm not sure it'll be a sprint finish by the time they get here." Fellow Wirralite Steve Cummings — who won two stages in 2015 and 2016 — added: "It feels a bit surreal to have it on your doorstep - it's gonna be amazing." Will you become a Tour addict and start worshipping at the altar of Wiggo and Froome-dog?

And metro mayor Steve Rotheram has revealed a £2bn plan to build new homes in the city region. The LCRCA says that work with housing associations and local authorities has identified more than 300 sites on which 64,044 homes could be built. What proportion, if any, of these new homes will be affordable is not currently clear, nor when the LCR Housing Pipeline’s proposals may come to fruition. However, it follows a recent announcement of £700mn for new social and affordable housing. In addition, the combined authority says it is already investing £1.3mn on a programme of 310 priority sites across the six boroughs.

Photo of the week

Abi wanted to share this image she took last week of a frozen Sefton Park. While a summer stroll through the Palmhouse is great, there’s something magical about a walk around the lake when it’s topped by ice…

We’re always keen to feature photos from our readers — if you have a snap you’d like to share please email it to editor@livpost.co.uk for a chance to be featured in our Monday editions.

Post Picks

❤️On 27 January 2025, Arthur Hughes was born, bringing immense joy to his family. But just two days later, he became critically ill with an unknown and rapidly deteriorating condition. Arthur was not expected to survive the night, but thanks to the dedicated work of medical teams at Alder Hey and his own fighting spirit, he survived and was transferred to a specialist metabolic unit in Manchester. Arthur has since been diagnosed with a rare and life-threatening genetic metabolic disorder, ornithine transcarbamylase (OTC) deficiency, which affects only 1 in 77,000 children. Next month, Kevin Robinson-Hale and Bobby Parry will be hosting a fundraiser for Arthur’s family. There will be live music and comedy, with proceedings kicking off at 7pm on February 27th at Kensington Fields Community Centre and Social Club. You can buy a ticket here, with all £10 going to Arthur’s family.

🎸Tomorrow, Africa Oye hosts Mali songwriter Afel Bocoum at the Philharmonic. A musical companion to Mali's late great desert blues pioneer Ali Farka Touré, he launched a solo career with debut album in 1999 and has been on the up ever since. Tickets here.

✏️And on Wednesday, the Unity Theatre is hosting Sober Scribbles: a night for sober and sober-curious writers to come together in Liverpool and be able to create and share their work in an alcohol-free environment. Find out more here.