SLASHING investment for rail electrification between Manchester and Leeds would “kill any notion of a Northern Powerhouse,” shadow transport secretary Andy McDonald said yesterday.

During his urgent question in the Commons, he asked Transport Minister Jo Johnson whether reports that the plans would be ditched are true.

Mr McDonald said: “If true … the government should be matching Labour’s commitment of £10 billion-plus to build a Crossrail for the north, not threatening already promised investment.”

Rail insiders have said the huge cost of fixing electric cables to the rock of the Pennines, along with raising bridges, has sent the project soaring well above its 2011 cost estimate of £290 million.

Ditching electrification would also scupper plans to send freight across the Pennines, connecting docks at Liverpool, Teesport, Immingham and Hull.

Mr Johnson told MPs that an announcement would be made later in the year, pending consideration of a Network Rail report.

He added that the government was committed to electrification “where it delivers passenger benefits and value for money.”