Cameron champions HS2 and Northern Powerhouse

THE Prime Minister has said a re-positioning of the economy away from London will favour the regions of the north and the Midlands.

Speaking to TheBusinessDesk.com ahead of next week’s General Election, David Cameron said the Northern Powerhouse would become a force to be reckoned with as the benefits of HS2 began to be felt.

He also dismissed fears that the proposed £50bn service would eat up too much of the country’s transport budget.

“It’s very important that we go ahead with a project that’s important for the future of our country,” he said.

“The thing I would say to people worried that it will take up too much budget is that in the next parliament we are going to invest three times more in other road and rail schemes as we are in HS2. HS2 is not pushing other schemes out.”

He said people had to ask themselves who they thought was going to safeguard the economy and make sure it kept growing.

“I think what we are talking in terms of the Northern Powerhouse linking the cities of the north together is good news because re-balancing the economy from outside of London towards the rest of the country means (other areas) will have a pivotal role to play.

“When you look at the next stages of HS2, yes there is a massive capacity increase between London and Birmingham in stage one but look at the increase in capacity and journey times that come between Leeds and Birmingham, from Nottingham to Birmingham, from Manchester to Birmingham and you can see that the British economy in my view can grow even stronger.”

He said that during his term as Prime Minister he had seen how the economies of the north and the Midlands had benefited from the growth in industry – such as the expansion of firms like Jaguar Land Rover – together with other successes such as the work being carried out by the universities.

He said the priority for the Conservatives should they be re-elected would be to continue generating jobs and growth for the big industrial centres.