Slashing train and bus fares would be a “definite vote winner”, Andy Burnham said today as he called for transport costs to become a key election battleground.
Speaking exclusively to the Mirror, the Greater Manchester Metro Mayor urged Keir Starmer to pledge to cut prices for commuters and bolster his path to No10.
“It’s a definite vote winner, no doubt about it,” declared Mr Burnham.
“It’s probably more of a cut-through vote winner than a lot of the things that often do get proposed.”
The former Labour leadership hopeful called for fares across the North to be limited like they are in London, where a bus journey costs £1.65 regardless of length.
“We need to bring down the cost of public transport - it should always be cheaper to get a bus than an Uber, it always should be cheaper to get a train than a plane. But at the moment that’s not the case,” he said on the margins of Transport for the North’s conference in Newcastle.
“The North of England should have London-level fares - the same fare structure as people there have - and that means £1.65 for a bus.”
Mr Burnham said cutting fares would “have so many benefits - it’s an investment in a more productive economy, in getting more people into work and in people’s mental health because you help get people out and about”.
Earlier, the Tories were urged to “get on” with HS2 as Labour promised the railway would be built in full under Mr Starmer.
Shadow Transport Secretary Louise Haigh launched a furious attack on repeated claims the project will be further scaled back or delayed.
It came as Transport for the North unveiled a report showing a million jobs could be created across the region and an extra £118billion generated for the local economy if cash is pumped into infrastructure.
The Northern Powerhouse Independent Economic Review, based on analysis by Cambridge Econometric, says “poor investment in infrastructure is currently holding back the Northern economy”.
It claims an extra £118bn “gross value added” a year and a million new jobs could be generated by 2050 - hiking average earnings by 25%.
Ms Haigh warned that uncertainty over the £106billion HS2 project - originally due to run from London to Manchester and Leeds via Birmingham - was holding back the North.
“Every week a new story is briefed about ministers getting cold feet and plans to slash it further,” she told the conference.
“Short-sighted decisions and delays only add cost in the long-run, limit the business case and curtail the ambition of the North.
“I say to government ministers, ‘Get on with it, stop wasting taxpayers’ money and deliver what the North has been promised - and if you can’t or won’t, Labour will’.”
Ms Haigh confirmed Labour would build the 225mph line in full, including the eastern leg to Leeds.
The Conservatives initially pledged to spur would go ahead. But it was ditched as Rishi Sunak desperately tried to cut costs.
She also renewed a pledge to give the go ahead to the HS3 Northern Powerhouse Rail high speed scheme linking Newcastle, Leeds, Hull, Sheffield, Manchester and Liverpool and Manchester Airport.
She added: “We know the North has huge ambition waiting to be unleashed.”
Backing renationalisation of the railways, the Labour frontbencher hit out at the “shocking state” of Britain’s public transport system and the “daily fiasco” of commuting on some routes.
“The current situation is unacceptable for too many people across the North, limiting our ambition and making us less than the sum of our parts,” said the Sheffield Heeley MP.
“Our second-rate infrastructure is costing us dear in lost jobs and economic growth.”
North Tyne Mayor Jamie Driscoll told the conference: “Our trains are unreliable, our buses fragmented, our cities choked with traffic, our transport system in chaos - and it’s costing us a fortune.”
West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin claimed TransPennine Express will cancel more than 23,000 services this year unless reliability improves.
Transport Secretary Mark Harper shrugged off criticism of the Tories ditching key rail links.
He said: “We have to be straight with people about paying for things.
“People that come along to conferences like this and pretend, with no means of paying for things, that they are going to do things to get a clap aren’t being straight with you.”
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