Commenting on the government's transport plans for the North of England, Rupert Read, Transport Spokesperson for the Green Party, said:
“This announcement packages up some already-announced road-building plans with a more speculative wish-list of rail-expansion plans. But that gets things completely the wrong way around. Green priorities would be for the road plans to be scrapped and the commitment to rail to be stronger, firmer, and clearer.
"What this country needs is not yet more roads, increasing our dependence on an expensive and carbon intensive form of travel, but real and rapid investment in our railways, delivering a public service we can be proud of and that is run in the interest of passengers. That can only be achieved by bringing railways back into public hands. Now that would be a real renaissance for rail, in the North and countrywide."