Oliver Coppard: ‘Nigel Farage would rip £45 billion away from the North’
‘Nigel Farage and his mob want to slam on the brakes and put Yorkshire back on the hard shoulder’, Oliver Coppard, the Mayor of South Yorkshire writes
The Mayor of South Yorkshire welcomed Northern Powerhouse Rail(Image: Supplied)
Yorkshire’s at the front of the queue.
Here in Yorkshire, we’ve had plenty of promises of shiny new rail lines, faster trains and better connections across the North. But time and again it doesn’t happen and we’re stuck with creaking old trains and Victorian infrastructure. Under the last government, we were at the back of the queue.
So when Rachel Reeves came to Yorkshire this week to pledge a whopping £45 billion to link up our great northern cities it felt like real change. I understand that after being let down so many times before, some people are still sceptical. But this is already working differently. As Mayors, we’ve been working with government to get this deal nailed down. The government know what’s needed here because we’ve told them, and they’ve listened. And now Yorkshire is at the front of the queue.
READ MORE: Rachel Reeves makes major ‘hard cash’ vow as she issues Reform UK warning
Would you believe that Sheffield and Leeds are less than 30 miles apart, but the journey takes around 50 minutes on a “fast” train? And that’s on a good day. Can you imagine that in London?
With Northern Powerhouse Rail we’ve been promised four fast trains every hour, with longer trains and quicker journeys. But these improvements aren’t just about shaving a few minutes off a commute. Northern Powerhouse Rail means major upgrades to stations across the North, helping to connect to places like Liverpool, Warrington, Manchester, Bradford, Leeds, Rotherham, Sheffield and York.
This investment will unlock the people, power and potential of the whole North. That’s good for Yorkshire but it’s also good for the whole country. Our country won’t get the growth we need without a thriving North of England.
Make no mistake – this is only happening because a Labour government is working hard with me and five other Labour mayors across the North. Reform are already promising to scrap the scheme if they get in – ripping £45 billion away from the North. We’ve had 14 years in the slow lane while the Tories dithered, and now Nigel Farage and his mob want to slam on the brakes and put Yorkshire back on the hard shoulder.
I was born and raised in South Yorkshire, the place I now represent as Mayor. Nigel Farage couldn’t find Rotherham on a map. We’re building a better transport network and economy for the future; he’s got no plan for how to help people here. Yorkshire will see right through him. There’s still a mountain to climb, but this pledge gives us real hope that the North’s transport nightmare is finally coming to an end.
For years, people here have been fobbed off with promise after promise. Not this time. We’re rolling up our sleeves and making change happen for Yorkshire, the North and the whole country.
‘Tories didn’t out people first for 15 years’
All too many people across the country have been hit hard by the cost of living crisis. But life didn’t get tougher overnight. It happened because of decisions taken in Westminster for 15 years that didn’t put people first.
But now we have a government trying to help. They’ve put the minimum wage up, taken £150 off energy bills, and frozen rail fares and prescription charges.
In South Yorkshire we’re doing the same – freezing and cutting fares on our publicly run Supertram network. At the same time, private bus companies here have put some fares up by 20%.
That’s the difference between transport run for people and transport run for profit – and why we’re racing to bring our buses back under public control.
‘Sheffield is the Home of Football’
While I may be from South Yorkshire, I’m an Arsenal fan. But as we go into a World Cup year, that’s not going to stop me shouting louder than ever about Sheffield’s rightful place as the Home of Football.
We started club football, we came up with the rules. We even invented the throw-in – but thank goodness not VAR!
So if you’re in South Yorkshire, get down to one of the world’s oldest football clubs and soak up some of the history of the game.
‘Good on Keir for standing up to Musk’
Like every Mirror reader, I was appalled to see Grok on X being used to create sexualised images of women and girls. I believe tech is a force for good. But safety online and protecting children isn’t optional.
Good on Keir and our government for standing up to Farage’s mate, Musk, and forcing him to make changes.
