A new rail line between Birmingham and Manchester is set to be built, the government has announced.

There had previously been plans to extend HS2 between the two cities, but these were scrapped by the Conservative government in 2023.

Labour has now confirmed that it has plans to build a new Birmingham-Manchester line, though insisted that these would not be a ‘reinstatement of HS2’.

The government says a new line would help to ease pressure on the West Coast Main Line, though no timescale on when the project might start has been provided.

The Treasury did confirm, however, that the new line would not open until after the completion of Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR), of which the first phase is being targeted for the 2030s.

NPR seeks to boost east-west rail connections across northern England, with the first phase improving on connections on the following routes: between Sheffield and Leeds; between Leeds and York; and between Leeds and Bradford.

A second phase of the NPR is set to involve a new route between Liverpool and Manchester via Manchester Airport and Warrington, using a combination of new and existing lines.

The third and final phase of NPR will involve better connections eastwards from Manchester to Leeds, Bradford, Sheffield and York.