Stockport Council’s Labour leadership were condemned last night for their timid response to yesterday’s central government announcement regarding Rail investment in the North. Despite strong criticism from other senior Labour figures in the North West, Stockport’s leader would only say she was ‘disappointed’.
Following the government announcement, which received widespread cross -party criticism, Liberal Democrat Group Leader Cllr Mark Hunter had challenged Labour to agree that the Northern Powerhouse was effectively ‘dead in the water’ if the decision not to invest were to go ahead.
Speaking immediately after the council meeting Cllr Hunter commented “For all their warm words, this Conservative government have demonstrated – yet again – that when it comes to the crunch they really don’t care about the North. This decision is shameful and, as business leaders and others have said, will set us back many years. We desperately need the investment in rail infrastructure to encourage more use of public transport, yet all we have are more broken promises”.
