Sadiq Khan openly criticised Jeremy Corbyn today after Labour’s leader said London’s vital Crossrail 2 project should be delayed until cities in the north of England get better rail connections.
In the biggest rift yet to open between Labour’s leader and the party’s candidate for Mayor of London, Mr Khan said Mr Corbyn, the MP for Islington, was in the wrong and should know better.
The rebuke was triggered when Mr Corbyn gave an interview to the Manchester Evening News in which he appeared to agree that the North of England was more deserving of better rail links than London. He also said the high-speed rail between the capital and Birmingham should have been delayed until northern cities had high-speed connections between themselves.
Asked if he would like to see HS3 confirmed for the North before London’s Crossrail 2 goes ahead, Mr Corbyn told the paper: “Yes I would. I also think it would have been better if HS2 had been the Birmingham-to-the-North part rather than London to Birmingham but I think that’s probably too late. That’s for the next issue.”
Tory mayoral candidate Zac Goldsmith today said Mr Corbyn’s remarks put a question mark over whether Crossrail 2, linking the capital south to north via a tunnel under the centre, would ever go ahead under Labour.
Mr Khan’s exasperation was clear when he told the Evening Standard: “Crossrail 2 is absolutely vital to ensuring London’s future growth and prosperity — we need to get it built as quickly as possible.
“As a London MP, Jeremy should know that.”
The row erupted as Mr Goldsmith and George Osborne were visiting a Crossrail construction site in north London to publicise the Budget’s support for the project.
Mr Goldsmith said: “It’s clear Khan and Corbyn would put Crossrail 2 at risk. Their four-year experiment in City Hall would end the infrastructure investment we so crucially need.”
It is unusual for a party leader to suggest during elections for Mayor that the capital city should take a lower priority than others.
