A fresh row blew up over £32 billion high-speed rail plans yesterday when the Government was accused of watering down a commitment to build the line to the edge of Leeds.

Labour questioned why a promised ‘hybrid Bill’ would only adopt the legal and planning powers for the first stage of the planned 225mph line – from London to Birmingham.

The “core network” – promised by Labour at the last election – would have granted powers to run high-speed trains to Manchester and Leeds, in one piece of legislation.

Labour’s transport spokesman Maria Eagle said: “This casts real doubt on the Tory-led Government’s long term commitment to delivering high-speed rail in the North.”

But the Government accused Labour of playing games and said all parties should be working together on the plans.

Transport Secretary Philip Hammond said: “The coalition Government is absolutely committed to building a national high speed rail network to Manchester and Leeds.

“We would be unable to put the whole network in one bill and still pass it in this Parliament and Maria Eagle knows it.”

A five-month consultation on the plans started yesterday.

The Government says the line will deliver £44bn of benefits to the UK economy.

It is envisaged that 14 trains or more an hour will run on the HS2 high-speed rail project, each with up to 1,100 seats.

The Government argues that with long-distance services transferred to the new high-speed network, large amounts of space would be freed up on the West Coast, East Coast and Midland Main Lines, allowing for an expansion of services on these lines.

Subject to the consultation, construction of any new network would be expected to begin early in the next Parliament, with the line to the West Midlands completed by 2026.

A Y-shape line will be created north of Birmingham to Manchester and Leeds with links to existing lines to Liverpool, Newcastle, Glasgow and Edinburgh. The legs to Manchester and Leeds are expected to be finished in 2032/33.

Chairman of Metro, Bradford Councillor Chris Greaves, said it was vital the link went to Yorkshire and beyond. He said research had shown high speed rail could generate more than £2bn of local productivity benefits on top of £60bn of overall transport benefits.

Coun Greaves said: “This project is going to have an enormously positive long-term effect for our region.”

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