Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram has escalated a war of words with Grant Shapps - describing the Transport Secretary as 'brazen' in his comments about northern transport.
Relations between Mr Shapps and northern mayors have become increasingly tense in recent days after the Secretary of State labelled criticism of his government's rail plans in the north 'irrational.'
Mayor Rotheram and other northern leaders have been vocal in their criticism of the government's controversial Integrated Rail Plan, which was released last year.
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The plan, which scrapped key pledges over High Speed 2 rail links, was described as 'cheap and nasty' by Mayor Rotheram, while South Yorkshire Mayor Dan Jarvis said the government was attempting to do 'everything on the cheap.'
Writing in the Yorkshire Post, Mr Shapps said: “Frankly, the irrational comments of a few people seeking to undermine government investment in the North will make no difference to their success.”
He branded Mayor Rotheram's criticism of the plans as 'absurd.'
Now Mayor Rotheram has hit back and compared Mr Shapps' defence of the cut-price plans to the efforts of his boss, Boris Johnson, in response to the swirling scandals around Downing Street parties.
He said: “In much the same way that Boris Johnson has tried to brazen out allegations of parties in Downing Street with ‘Operation Red Meat’, Grant Shapps has tried to distract from the watered down rail plan he has offered, by picking fights with leaders across the North.
“By every measure the plans tabled by government fall far short of the transformational plans we were promised in the Liverpool City Region and across the wider North.
"We are not getting the high speed links we were promised. We are not getting the extra freight capacity we were promised to take heavily polluting HGVs off the road and connect to the strategically important Port of Liverpool.
"And we are not getting the economic benefits we were promised. Instead we are being forced to accept years of disruption with devastating economic consequences.
“I could not have been clearer that at every point throughout this process that we would not accept a cheap and nasty solution.
"My door has been open for Mr Shapps to come and work with us to develop plans that would genuinely transform railways across the North. His time would be better spent meeting and engaging with us, not taking pot shots through to the media. His choice to try to kid the people I represent that they are getting what they were promised is simply empty rhetoric.
“So far he has refused to meet with us and seems more interested in peddling cherrypicked figures than delivering the rail revolution we need and deserve. My door remains open.
“Proper transport connectivity is a red line in the red wall - and beyond.”
Mayor Jarvis also hit back at the Secretary of State's comments.
He said: “Throwing your toys out of the pram because it’s been pointed out you’ve over promised and under delivered isn’t a great look for ministers. The North wants what was pledged – a rail network fit for the 21st Century. No more. No less.”
