North East mayor Kim McGuinness has already contacted Andy Burnham about dualling the A1 in Northumberland to end a “national embarrassment”. Our region's leaders have campaigned for decades to upgrade the busy route, much of which becomes a single carriageway north of Morpeth, but successive governments have failed to act.
A spate of tragic incidents over recent weeks, in which six people were killed in three separate accidents in May and June, has sparked renewed calls for urgent action to improve safety on that notorious stretch. Plans to dual 13 miles of the A1 from Morpeth to Ellingham were shelved in 2024 and have been branded "poor value for money" by Labour transport secretary Heidi Alexander.
Renewed Hopes for Dualling as Leadership Changes Loom
But there are hopes that the idea of creating an unbroken dual carriageway all the way to the Scottish border could now be revisited, with Mr Burnham poised to replace Keir Starmer in Downing Street. ChronicleLive is bringing together a coalition of political, business and community leaders to demand an end to four decades of inaction and has launched a petition calling for the dualling case to be re-examined.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service understands that North East mayor Kim McGuinness has already spoken to the Makerfield MP about the A1 dualling campaign, to put the issue on his radar ahead of his expected coronation as the next Prime Minister. She is also expected to write formally to the would-be Labour leader, who is set to be elected unopposed to the top job, to request his support once he takes office in Number 10.
Cross-Party Pressure and Tragic Toll
Ms McGuinness and Northumberland County Council leader Glen Sanderson wrote to Ms Alexander last month, warning that “too many lives are sadly being lost and we need a solution to make the road safer”. While the Government did commit to making safety improvements on the A1 after it scrapped the dualling scheme, detailed plans and timescales for such work have yet to be confirmed. Local Labour figures, including MPs Joe Morris and David Smith, have also written to Chancellor Rachel Reeves to call for the dualling to be reviewed.
Official figures show there have been 49 fatalities and nearly 300 serious injuries on the A1 in Northumberland over the last 20 years. As well as the six deaths in May and June, three people also died on the road in two separate incidents in January.
Mayor's Pledge to Campaign
At the North East mayoral authority’s overview and scrutiny committee this week, Northumberland councillor Stephen Flower asked the mayor to get Mr Burnham on board with the dualling vision. The Reform UK councillor said: “When Andy Burnham comes into Number 10, could you have a word with him and ask him to dual carriageway the A1 all the way up through Northumberland? Because it will help everybody and help what you are doing.”
Ms McGuinness replied: “You won’t find a bigger advocate than me for dualling the A1. Andy knows exactly where I am at. We have written to him already and, alongside Glen [Sanderson, Northumberland County Council leader] and cross-party across the North East, we will campaign for it. Not only is it [dualling] good for economic growth in the region, I think the road has become a national embarrassment to be honest with you. The safety record is terrible and it is getting worse.”
