Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds has admitted that the A1 in Northumberland is not up to standard, saying the state of the road “feels sort of inappropriate”. Speaking during a visit to County Durham, the Labour minister acknowledged that the Government understands the mounting concern over the longstanding failure to upgrade the route, which has been described as a “national embarrassment” following a series of fatal accidents this year.
Renewed calls after fatal crashes
The admission comes after Andy Burnham opened the door last week to a renewed bid to dual the notorious route. Previous plans to dual 13 miles of single carriageway between Morpeth and Ellingham were cancelled by Labour in 2024, after it was deemed that the £500 million scheme was not value for money.
Renewed calls for the Government to commit to dualling the A1 up to the Scottish border have followed the deaths of six people in three separate crashes in May and June. Local leaders have also argued that the A1’s lack of capacity is a major barrier to business growth and tourism in Northumberland.
Minister understands the case
Mr Reynolds, who grew up in Houghton-le-Spring, said: “There is a safety, an economic, and a business case. I know it feels, for people around here, so incongruent that such a significant transport corridor is not of a standard that we would expect. I really do, personally and from a ministerial point of view, understand the case here.”
He added: “The roads budget has come under some pressure because of the need to raise defence spending. That has put a lot of worthy projects into a difficult position. But I would echo what the Prime Minister said, we do understand this… when we talk about business and economic opportunities, infrastructure is a key part of that. The government changed the fiscal rules to put more money into infrastructure, which we are starting to see the effects of.”
However, he stopped short of promising Whitehall backing for the dualling vision, saying: “I would love to be able to be in a position to make promises, [but] I can’t on that. I can say yes, from the Prime Minister downwards, people understand what this means – the concerns about the economic impact and the safety impact as well.”
Pressure for action
Northumberland County Council has complained that some £68.4 million had already been spent on dualling preparations before the project was cancelled in 2024. The authority has also committed £20,000 to fund evidence gathering to support the case for dualling, as the number of accidents has continued to rise this summer.
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. Mr Burnham said last week that his No 10 North operation would work with North East mayor Kim McGuinness to seek an “alternative way” to fund the A1 upgrades.
In a letter to the Prime Minister, Conservative county council leader Glen Sanderson described the A1 as “both a danger to life and a brake on our economic potential”. He argued that other planned safety improvements on the A1, the details of which are yet to be announced, would not “address fully the issues of overcapacity and lack of dual carriageway”.
