Government revealed that a dedicated Minister for the flagship railway scheme will be appointed when it gave the green light to the project last week. An announcement is expected to be made shortly.

The three new faces in the Department for Transport are Ministers Andrew Stephenson, Kelly Tolhurst and Rachel Maclean.

Andrew Stephenson – MP for Pendle – revealed on Twitter that he will take on the role of Rail Minister. He was previously a Minister in the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and the Department for International Development since July 2019.

He also served in the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy and as Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury.

Kelly Tolhurst joins the DfT after serving for over a year as a Minister at the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy. She is the MP for Rochester & Strood.

MP for Redditch Rachel Maclean receives her first ministerial appointment. She wrote on Twitter that she was “absolutely honoured” to be taking on the role and added: “I’m looking forward to working with Grant Shapps and the entire team at what is an exciting time for transport in this country.”

The new appointments replace outgoing ministers Nusrat Ghani, George Freeman and Paul Maynard. Grant Shapps retains his role as Transport Secretary while Chris Heaton-Harris and Baroness Vere of Norbiton also remain with the Department.

Grant Shapps said he was honoured to be back as Secretary of State for Transport and wrote: “In a Government working hard to level up Britain, connecting communities means everything”.

He has also been given responsibility for the Northern Powerhouse at Cabinet level by the Prime Minister. “I’ll work tirelessly to help realize the incredible potential of the Northern Powerhouse,” he wrote.

Nusrat Ghani wrote on Twitter that is has been a “huge privilege” to serve as Transport Minister. “We’ve achieved so much in two years”.

George Freeman also said it was a privilege to shape the Department’s Future of Transport Strategy.