The Northern Agenda

Will Labour really deliver for the North? | Learning the lessons from HS2 fiasco

Listen on

Episode notes

​I​f you're into politics it's likely you'll be heading to, or at the very least reading about, one of the big party conferences happening this autumn. By far the biggest is Labour's annual get-together in Liverpool, their first as a new government.

​A​nd anyone who's interested in the future direction of the Labour party will want to ​R​ob Parsons' interview with one of its most interesting new MPs, Josh Simons, MP for Makerfield in Greater Manchester​. ​H​e's a former advisor to Jeremy Corbyn and used to run ​t​he influential think-tank Labour Together, which has extremely close links to the current Keir Starmer government. 

​T​he loyal 'Starmtrooper' been earmarked by a lot of observers as one to watch in the new intake of MPs​.​ And on the podcast he talks about a fundamental shift in the way politics is done under the new government and his thoughts on the levelling up agenda and what Labour does to replace it. 

And I​isteners will certainly have a view on his defence of Rachel Reeves over the first big controversy of the new Labour government, the cutting of the winter fuel allowance so it only goes to the poorest pensioners.

​A year on from Rishi Sunak's decision to axe the Northern leg of HS2 to Manchester, while giving a conference speech in Manchester, Rob speaks to a transport expert who's helped put together a report on what we can learn from the cancellation of the high speed rail project in the North. 

Jonathan Spruce of the Institution of Civil Engineers talks about how we need to take the politics out of these huge infrastructure projects if they're ever going to succeed.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices