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Labour has said it is committed to delivering a £10 billion Crossrail for the North rail project that will cut journey times from Liverpool to Manchester to just 25 minutes.

Speaking at a conference in the city today, shadow chancellor John McDonnell said his party will bring forward plans to “link the great cities of the north of England.”

Mr Mcdonnell was speaking at the Devonshire House Hotel at the first of Labour’s New Economics conferences and said he wants to address an imbalance between investment in the north and south – and said the new High Speed 3 rail link could create 850,000 jobs by 2050.

He told the Liverpool audience: “There is so much potential here currently squandered by under investment, delays and a lack of real commitment from Whitehall.

“So with our mayoral candidates in Manchester and Liverpool, and councils across the north, Labour will be pushing for this government to deliver.

“It’s at least a £10bn commitment from Labour to invest in the north.”

(Image: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images))

He added: “It means the journey from Manchester to Leeds will take just 25 minutes, instead of close to an hour - or you could get from Liverpool to Manchester in 25 minutes.”

Mr McDonnell said Crossrail for the North will become “the foundations for a transformed Northern economy” and promised that Labour would train a “generation of Northerners to build it.”

He also announced plans for a “Barnett Formula for the North” that he said would make up for years of Tory neglect, and protect against any Brexit-fallout.

He said: “This will mean that future governments will be legally bound to audit regional investment spending, and report to Parliament when the bias is greater than economic need can justify.”