STEVEN Broomhead talks about how to improve the economy of the north in his latest column

BORIS’S government’s new focus on the North with its ambition to ‘rebalance’ the economy is to be welcomed but will also justify continuous scrutiny on what actually is delivered.

Reportedly 29 new Conservative MPs have been given a hotline to Northern Powerhouse Minister Jake Berry so they can put forward their priority projects.

These will form a “golden book” of real commitments.

“Infrastructure” was mentioned no more than 50 times in the briefing notes to accompany the Queen’s Speech.

There are plans to invest £80billion in the North in areas such as transport, business growth, digital projects and decarbonisation.

One of the projects which is causing headaches for the government is HS2 with its spiralling costs and reducing benefits.

As a project it started with a budget cap of £33 billion and it is now estimated to cost £106 billion and is spending £250 million per day on engineering and consulting costs in the South as it advances very slowly northwards.

So far £8 billion has been spent.

The government in the next few weeks will have to take a very difficult decision – if it scraps the project it will be accused of failing the North at the first hurdle.

Scrapping the project will mean problems for the HS3 rail project to offer high speed rail between Liverpool and Leeds/Hull as part of the line from here to Manchester would use the HS2 rails.

There are other alternatives such as investing the HS2 budget in to the upgrading of the dilapidated Victorian railway infrastructure or building 200 medium sized hospitals.

I have a bold idea for the government to consider.

Their radical announcement to consider the relocation of the House of Lords ‘northwards’ with its 800 members could present us with an opportunity as we are one of the best connected places in the North (and that’s without HS2/HS3).

We have an underused Town Hall and its annexes which, with some careful and sensitive heritage led adaptations, would fit the bill.

The relocation of the Lords would also act as an enormous boost to our economy and give us a global profile.

A simple but deliverable idea. “Shoot for the moon, if you miss you will be amongst the stars” is one of my ambition statements.

It would also be good to see all that “Red Ermine robes and regalia” on Sankey Street.

It would be a highly symbolic decision and proof that there really is a determination to ‘level up’ the North to the South.

It may also be better value for money than HS2.