What are the transport projects being funded in the spending review?
– A new tram network in Leeds
Leeds is the largest city in western Europe without a mass transit system, with proposals to reinstate trams ongoing for decades.
The Leeds Supertram project first emerged in the 1980s but was dropped in 2005.
The Conservative government gave its support for Leeds to have a mass transit system in the integrated rail plan published in November 2021, to coincide with the decision to axe the planned HS2 extension to the city.
Services on a tram network are expected to launch in the mid-2030s and will link Leeds with Bradford and other areas.
– Extension of Birmingham's tram network
Birmingham's tram network will be extended (Alamy/PA)
The West Midlands Metro will be extended from Birmingham city centre to a new sports quarter in Bordesley Green.
This will be the first phase of West Midlands mayor Richard Parker's ambition to deliver mass transit from east Birmingham to north Solihull.
– Enhancing Greater Manchester's tram network
New Metrolink stops will be opened in Bury and Oldham, and the line will be extended to Stockport.
Also, the city's public transport Bee Network will become fully electric by 2030, including through the purchase of 1,000 new electric buses.
– Extending the Tyne and Wear Metro
The tram network will be extended from Newcastle to Sunderland via Washington.
– Improvements to buses in the Liverpool City Region
New rapid bus routes will serve Liverpool John Lennon Airport and both Liverpool and Everton's football stadiums.
– Expanding Middlesbrough railway station
A third platform will be built at the station to boost capacity.
– A new mass transit system to connect Derby and Nottingham
This will feature road, rail and bus improvements across the Trent Arc corridor.
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Spectator
an hour ago
- Spectator
Why Vance is worth watching this summer
America's two most powerful men are visiting Britain this summer. After Donald Trump's trip to Scotland last month, his Vice President is expected shortly in the Cotswolds. Both men share an interest in the UK – but for different reasons. Trump's ties are ancestral; Vance's passion is more intellectual. 'What's going on with Reform?' he asked Peter Mandelson at a recent function. His choice of England as a holiday destination reflects an engagement in this country's politics. Among Vance's friends and contacts are several prominent British academics. They include Blue Labour founder Maurice Glasman, who corresponded with Vance over email, and James Orr, with whom Vance bonded in 2019 after converting to Catholicism. Shortly after his election to the Senate in January 2023, he came to London and was keen to meet with prominent conservatives. As Vice President, he has shown an eagerness to use his office to engage in UK domestic issues. The best example of this was his Munich Security Conference speech in February. Here he attacked successive British governments for ignoring voter concerns on migration and free speech. He demonstrated too a level of familiarity with specific UK case studies – including a man in Bournemouth convicted for praying outside an abortion clinic. Vance has subsequently weighed in on different European issues, calling the continent the 'cradle of Western civilisation'. All this is to say that Vance is willing and able to use his status to shape the dynamics of the UK-US relationship and, potentially, the future of British conservatism. Right-to-life groups in this country were ecstatic when Vance raised the little-known-case of the Bournemouth abortion clinic. The Vice Presidency might have once been dismissed as 'not worth a bucket of warm piss' – but JD Vance has shown that it affords a bully pulpit with considerable clout in the social media age. Prominent figures in both Reform and the Conservative party are clearly aware of this dynamic. Allies of the Vice President have already met with senior members of Nigel Farage's party. The Clacton MP, who made little comment about Trump's Scotland visit, was this week willing to publicly indulge talk of a meeting with Vance when interviewed on LBC. Other engagements are expected with other leading conservative personalities of interest. Such engagements are timely, given Vance's status as the Intellectual-in-Chief of this White House. For now, he remains the second most powerful in the United States – but all that could change very shortly. The race for 2028 is set to begin in earnest in about 18 months' time and Vance is in prime position to succeed Trump as the Republican nominee. Much as how Thatcher and Reagan first met in 1975, an engagement with Vance this summer could prove most fruitful in four years' time.
The Guardian
5 hours ago
- The Guardian
Dining across the divide: ‘Wait a minute, you vote Reform and you read the Guardian?'
Occupation Engineering manager Voting record Generally a small-c conservative, has voted Tory in every election but 2024, when he voted Reform as a protest against the Conservative government. Doesn't see himself voting Reform in 2029 Amuse bouche Buys individual pieces of Lego to make his own creations. For his 30th birthday, his fiancee bought him the makings of a 3ft wingspan Tiger Moth biplane Occupation Retired maths teacher Voting record Labour or Lib Dem – whoever is most likely to beat the Tories Amuse bouche Spent seven years teaching in Africa, first in Kenya, then in Malawi Bernard He was very young, very smartly dressed. I wasn't scruffy, but I didn't have his polish. A nice guy; a bit diffident to start with, but we both were, really. It's a strange situation. Once we got talking, we got on fine. Michael He seemed welcoming, more than warm. Bernard I had buffalo chicken wings, followed by haddock, followed by a fantastic sticky toffee pudding. Perhaps I overdid it a bit. Michael I had pork belly to start, and then a Portuguese beef stew. Bernard We both agreed that we had to get away from fossil fuels, but his solution is nuclear. If there is an accident, they tend to be disastrous accidents – he had all kinds of arguments for why Chornobyl couldn't happen here, but even Sellafield in the early years, leaking radioactive water into the Irish Sea, was awful. Michael We should be pushing hard for nuclear, whereas Bernard leaned heavily into renewables. My reasons are the reliability of nuclear, the compactness. It's unfair to judge nuclear on Chornobyl. The causes of that disaster were largely unqualified people and political interference, rather than science. It was the politicians running it, not the engineers. Bernard The cost of Hinkley Point is immense. The French are building it, aren't they? He thinks the reason why that's happening is because the red tape in this country is so terrible. And what do you do with the waste? You bury it. But you've haven't got rid of it, you've just left it for future generations. Michael My response to the half-life issue, which he raised, is that we take very diffuse radioactive material and concentrate it – so it's not like we're creating this deadly thing; it's a natural element, or minerals rather, that's been concentrated. So it's a long problem but it's not a big problem. Sign up to Inside Saturday The only way to get a look behind the scenes of the Saturday magazine. Sign up to get the inside story from our top writers as well as all the must-read articles and columns, delivered to your inbox every weekend. after newsletter promotion Bernard I think Brexit is a done deal and I'm pretty sure that it won't be reversed any time soon. Although I was furious about it, I do tend to think: what can we do? It's like being really cross there was an earthquake. Michael We voted opposite ways but agreed that it was time to move on. It wouldn't have happened this way were I dictator and in charge of everything, and I'm not particularly happy with the results, but we live in a democracy and you've got to accept compromise. Bernard We both felt there should be more consensus in politics. PMQs is a bit of a joke: it doesn't mean anything – it's like a tennis match. If you can make a select committee work, where people from all political parties manage to meet and agree on things, why can't you make law like that? Michael Towards the end of the evening, he mentioned Wes Streeting's new plan for the NHS. It's nice that it's a 10-year plan and is supported by the shadow health secretary. So that's almost a glimmer of hope against the normal discourse of A says this and B says, 'That's bad because A said it.' If both sides say it's a good thing, then it's probably a good thing. Bernard I certainly had an enjoyable evening. I don't think I made a friend, in so far as he's half my age. I said to him, 'Wait a minute, you vote Reform, and you read the Guardian?' It turned out his fiancee is a teacher and she encouraged him to do it. Michael We walked out of the restaurant together, chatted as we walked down the street. We didn't exchange numbers; I'll never see him again, but I very much enjoyed talking to somebody I'd never normally have crossed paths with. I almost felt guilty about how much I enjoyed it. Additional reporting: Kitty Drake Bernard and Michael ate at The Chapter House in Salisbury. Want to meet someone from across the divide? Find out how to take part
The Herald Scotland
11 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
I found Sarah Vine's book unexpectedly heart-wrenching
If you were an aspiring politician seeking to annexe a seat anywhere south of Liverpool (and you'd be amazed how many Scots have done so) then be conversant with this woman's weekly chronicles. When I met her to discuss her book amidst the streets that form her Kensington hunting grounds, she'd written that day about the kitchen psycho-drama of Prince Harry's fractured (and probably irredeemable) relationship with his father, King Charles. In Scotland, we who fancy ourselves to be above these royal tribulations, dismiss them and cite them as evidence in the case against the Union. In England though, and most especially in working-class neighbourhoods, the Windsors' bizarre rituals are Shakespearian. They take sides and cheer on their champions from this cursed House. Read more Kevin McKenna: It's not long though – just a few pages, really – until (horror of horrors) you find yourself emotionally captured by her story of being married to the former Tory cabinet minister, Michael Gove. And how a once happy union was chiselled out by Brexit and by the class structure that still exists at the top of the Tories on which they spend a lot of money and time to conceal from the rest of us. You begin investing in this story about how Westminster's political thresher (and maybe Holyrood's too) can steal your soul if you're foolish enough to believe you can surf it and remain upright. It's also about surviving as a woman amidst the casual sexism that still pervades my industry and the outright misogyny that runs through Big Politics. There are startling moments, not least an egregiously misogynistic insult aimed at her by the comedian, Stewart Lee, in his Observer column. 'As a student, David Cameron is rumoured to have put his penis into a dead pig. To outdo him, Michael Gove put his penis into a Daily Mail journalist.' On a family trip to New York, they're spotted by another British couple. Not even the presence of their two children – 10 and 12 – spares them. 'W****** like you shouldn't be allowed to have children,' shouted the woman. 'The point I was trying to make, is one about the one process of dehumanisation,' she tells me. 'They don't see you as a person. I write for the Daily Mail and I was married to a Tory. So the normal rules of decency are suspended.' Vine admires current Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch (Image: Stefan Rousseau) She admires the current Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch. 'She's got the balls to do it; she's got the appetite and is feisty and she has a vision and isn't afraid to ram it home. We're told that one dog year equals seven human years. It's the same with politicians.' She's right, of course. Politicians seem to age before our eyes in the term of a single parliament. Ms Vine's story – even without the politics and the tiaras – is a compelling one. Of a girl living in Italy where her affluent parents had moved to embrace la dolce vita amidst their extra-marital affairs and the tantrums that followed them and who felt like an ugly duckling in a school full of young Mediterranean beauties. Of being psychologically abused by her dad, who seemed embarrassed at his daughter's physical appearance (she still frets about her weight and discusses her alopecia and her anti-depressants). One entry leaves you shredded. It's when, as a teenager, she returns to Italy for the summer from boarding school in England where she'd starved herself into something approaching svelte. Her dad now felt she was fit enough for him to be seen in public with her in Italian café society, at one point instructing her 'to wiggle for a table'. I found this heart-wrenching to the extent that I immediately resolved to call my own two daughters and just, you know, be closer to them. What things were said and unsaid; how many were the hugs not given? She tells me that the stuff about her dad needed to be in there 'to explain who I am and what I am and why I'm so flawed'. She'd sent the book to her brother. 'Is this okay? You were there too; you remember all that stuff.' He'd called and said: 'Sarah, honestly, you've been far too nice.' She had called her dad to tell him there was material in the book he may find uncomfortable. 'He said 'Oh alright then, and went back to watching the telly'.' Back to England then and university (languages) and falling into journalism after a fateful encounter with some of Fleet Street's finest in one of their taverns. And then meeting Michael Gove on a skiing trip with the nucleus of what would later be called 'the Notting Hill Set': There's a perception among Scottish journalists that the old English newspaper titles are populated by the scions of old families who weren't considered smart enough for high political office and thus favours had to be called in. Ms Vine though, is a proper old-school journalist who has held down most jobs in the gnarly business of producing newsprint. There's no question of her not having earned her position. I was once asked what had made the Mail so popular across all classes in England. The best I could come up with was that they represented the Margo Leadbetter character in The Good Life. In one episode, she's in a long Post Office queue being truculently fobbed off at the counter. 'I am the voice of the Silent Majority,' she'd said. Margo seemed to embody those English stereotypes we both love and hate: of enduring challenges with stalwart resilience because, well … being English obliges you to care without showing it; to be silent in adversity, confident perhaps that you'll have your moment and that it will be a terrible one indeed. I love them for it and loathe them in equal measure. Perhaps though, it's that early Italian influence on Ms Vine that enkindled her desire in this book to settle a few scores; to chivvy those who were inconstant or who disappeared when she was deemed no longer to possess a social cachet. It's not revenge, as such, more an abjuration that they should perhaps have known that this day would come when the smart, sassy columnist – the Wednesday Witch in Daily Mail parlance – would strap on her stilettoes and have her day in long form with one of Britain's top publishers. The inside story of Brexit and how it laid waste to relationships and brought families to the brink of breaking up is a dominant theme. Did it wreck her own – happy – marriage to Michael Gove who is now out of politics entirely? Or, would they still have split? Would he always have been drawn like a moth to the flame of politics; while she with her daily, acerbic registers refused to adopt the role of dutiful Tory wife bred to endure and to absorb and to be silent? In the end it wasn't a clash of personalities, or infidelity or excessive drinking; or abnormal behaviour which sealed the split, but the sight of her husband choosing to absent himself with a book in the upstairs bedroom of their new home while she and her elderly mum (who had flown from Italy to help with the flitting) did all the heavy lifting. Before then, a sense of isolation had begun to settle on them both. The gradual, wretched realisation that for all their brains and unprivileged endeavour; for their wit and charisma, they'd never quite been accepted within their set. And that, when the chips were down and the balloon was up and the lights had gone out, a process of social exclusion by stealth was well underway. They had committed the cardinal sin of failing to acknowledge their place in the grand scheme: deference to the upper classes of High Toryism. To the naked, unschooled eye, they were both at the very apex of England's social, political and cultural food chain. But when Michael Gove had defied his friend, David Cameron, by becoming a chief Brexiteer and Sarah Vine had backed him they were brutally disabused of any notions about parity of esteem. Read more Kevin McKenna: In these circles, your status is conferred for eternity by the title deeds of 13th century land-grabs. They were best of friends with David and Samantha Cameron and Ms Vine had been Godmother to their daughter. When you step outside the role laid down for you though – absolute obeisance – you get voided. The book though, also slakes your appetite for dinner party capers among the horsey set and names are dropped like confetti. It's all rather glorious and we're treated to occasional forays into the inter-marital houghmagandie of the upper crust, because, we all know that the High Tories are all fond of their shagging and probably still claim a bit of your 'droit de seigneur' This is most memorably narrated when a bright and loyal Tory adviser, is hinted to be conducting an affair with Samantha Cameron's stepfather, William Astor. This unravelled in what seemed a most cut-glass, English manner. There were no names and no big red-top screamer … just an unmarked entry by the Mail's kenspeckle diarist, Richard Kay hinting at a tryst. And lo, she was gone and never heard of again, while the old goat emerged relatively unscathed. It's here that I must offer some words of advice to Ms Vine. If her book makes it into paperback and thence into a Netflix adaptation (virtually guaranteed) please be rid of the cover on this hardback edition. It's dreadful and exceedingly low-calibre, showing a woman lying fully prone and face down. It channels an energy that's entirely at odds with the dynamics of Ms Vine's rise, fall and recovery. How Not to be a Political Wife: HarperCollins £20
