BRADFORD Council’s Leader has welcomed the Prime Minister’s commitment to a new Bradford rail station, but warned they will keep the pressure on Government “until spades are in the ground.”

Liz Truss today confirmed that she still planned to deliver Northern Powerhouse Rail in full – including a stop in Bradford.

In her leadership campaign, Liz Truss vowed to push ahead with plans for the Northern Powerhouse Rail high speed rail line – which had effectively been all but scrapped by Boris Johnson’s Government.

And in an interview today she confirmed that now she was Prime Minister she will continue to support the plan – including a stop in Bradford.

Bradford Council Leader Susan Hinchcliffe said the Council would hold her to her promise, and added: “we won’t let up until spades are in the ground and NPR is delivered.”

The Northern Powerhouse Rail line has been in the planning stages for years, and was one of Boris Johnson’s main proposals to “level up” the North.

These included assurances that there would be a stop in Bradford.

Proposals put forward by Bradford Council called for the station to be built on the St James’ Market site on Wakefield Road.

The area around this site would be re-developed as a “Southern Gateway” to the city centre.

But in November the Government published its Integrated Rail Plan. Not only would there no longer be a stop in Bradford, but the plan called for much of the line to scrapped.

On the day of the announcement Labour Leader Keir Starmer visited the site along with Cllr Hinchcliffe and West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin, where he said the Government had “betrayed Bradford.”

The Rail Plan claimed that the planned station would be too far out of the city centre.

The Council, Local MPs and Combined Authority has continued to push for the Government to reconsider its decision.

In July a report by the influential Transport Select committee into the Rail Plan was published.

It also urged Government to reconsider scrapping NPR, saying failure to deliver the station would squander Bradford’s potential to become “an engine room of the Northern Powerhouse.”

The committee also disputed Government’s claim that the St James’ Market site was too far out of the city centre, saying: “the extra distance from the city centre does not seem to us an insurmountable barrier.”

The Prime Minister doubled down on her support for Northern Powerhouse Rail during an interview with ITV Calendar News.

When asked if that it included a full, new line between Liverpool and Hull, including a stop in Bradford, she said: “It does.”

When asked when it would be delivered, she said the timetable would be set out “in due course.”

She added: “It will stop at Bradford, I’m very clear about that.”

After the interview Cllr Hinchcliffe said: “Today’s announcement by the Prime Minister is a positive step forward and I look forward to constructive conversations with Government about when we can start building.

“We will hold her government to account to deliver on the Bradford stop and Northern Powerhouse Rail in full and we won’t let up until spades are in the ground and NPR is delivered.

“We have been making the strong case for NPR for several years to successive prime ministers.

“Northern leaders have been united in the call for a new Bradford city centre stop on NPR. Most recently I wrote to Ms Truss on her appointment as Prime Minister, when I restated the transformative impact of the Bradford stop on NPR for the people and businesses of the Bradford district and across the North. I’m glad that she agrees with our compelling case.

“A new Bradford city centre station on NPR will bring more than £167bn of annual economic output within a 35-minute journey of the city, it will create 27,000 new jobs, unlock a regeneration site three times the size of Canary Wharf and open up access to a labour market of 6.7 million people.

“Alongside the investment we are already making locally in major regeneration schemes and our status as UK City of Culture 2025, delivery of NPR will turbocharge our economic resurgence with a new era of clean growth and opportunities for the people of our district. We will hold the government to account to get on and deliver it without delay.”

Victoria Wainwright, President of Bradford Chamber of Commerce, said:  “This is great news not only for Bradford but for the whole country.

“In order to make Northern Powerhouse Rail the success story for the UK that it can be, it is essential that it includes a station in Bradford.

“In committing to this move the Prime Minister has unlocked an estimated £30bn in growth and paved the way for the creation of 27,000 jobs.

“This move will further put Bradford on the map and give it the status it deserves.”