A third high speed railway should be built between Manchester and Leeds, George Osborne proposed on Monday as he delivered a speech about creating a ‘Northern Powerhouse’ to compete economically with London.

This ‘Northern Powerhouse’, the Chancellor said, would comprise several interconnected cities in the north of England, making improvements to the currently “not fit for purpose” transport links in the region vital.

“I want us to start thinking about whether to build a new high speed rail connection east–west from Manchester to Leeds, based on the existing rail route, but speeded up with new tunnels and infrastructure,” he added.

Under his proposals the ‘Northern Powerhouse’ would be centred on Manchester and have a 65km catchment area including Leeds, Sheffield and Liverpool, Lancashire, Cheshire and Yorkshire.

Mr Osborne said: “We need an ambitious plan to make the cities and towns in the northern belt radically more connected to create the equivalent of travelling around a single global city.”

KPMG UK head of infrastructure (building and construction) Richard Threlfall said: “We have for too long invested billions of pounds more in the south than the north – throwing money at our strongest region and abandoning our weakest. HS3 should finally turn the tide and help the North regain its historic prominence in the UK economy.”

British Chambers of Commerce executive director of policy Adam Marshall said: “The prospect of a high speed east-west rail link across the North is a good start if it materialises, but we would like to see more thought given towards connecting all the core cities in the north, not just Manchester and Leeds.”

An artist's impression of Manchester Victoria station, which is being upgraded as part of Network Rail's Northern Hub project to improve rail in the region

(Image: Network Rail)

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