RAIL minister Chris Heaton-Harris confirmed all Pacer trains should finally be off our tracks by next May – providing Northern Rail “keep to their word” – on a visit to the district today.

Mr Heaton-Harris said delays in the manufacturing process had meant the replacements were being delivered to Northern later than expected, but the next bulk of Pacer train removals would take place in February.

He said: “As long as they keep to their word, I’ve no reason to disbelieve them.”

The minister was joined by Conservative parliamentary candidate for Pudsey Stuart Andrew on a visit to New Pudsey station following the party’s announcement of £4.2 billion fund for local public transport.

The funding will be “devolved” to a number of local authorities including West Yorkshire for a new metro or light rail stopping at Dewsbury, Pudsey and the Spen Valley.

Mr Heaton-Harris said this creation would “unlock” the region’s potential.

The Daventry candidate said: “As you’ve seen central government’s committed extra funds and we’d quite like a strategic transport system but that’s got to be planned by local people.

“To unlock the potential of this country, we need to build the infrastructure. It needs to be done across the whole country.”

The minister confirmed authorities will have to find additional money if they wish to add what he described as “extra bits” to the suggested plans.

When pressed by the Telegraph & Argus about where the money is sourced from, Mr Andrew said it was “part of the ongoing transport budget” and separate from the government’s promise of £100 billion for infrastructure investment.

He said: “The government is making sure that the allocation that transport has, the share of the money, we’re devolving that to local areas. Local people know the real issues facing our communities and we should be best placed to address the huge congestion issues that we’ve got here. We know where the economic opportunities come from.”

Other Conservative politicians made their way to the district today with Liz Truss, the Secretary of State for international trade, touring Gesipa, in Keighley, which employs over 70 people and manufactures rivets for cars for European and international clients.

Robbie Moore, Conservative candidate for Keighley, said the business was an “excellent” example of businesses who could utilise their skills post-Brexit. He said: “The whole purpose was to find out a little bit about what things will look like post-Brexit. It was a fantastic business producing British products.”