Southport is being unfairly treated once again by this government and the Department of Transport (DfT).

A new consultation to "improve" rail service in the North offers three options BUT each means the removal of Southport's vital direct service to Manchester Piccadilly. 

That means the DfT is essentially offering ZERO choice in this matter for Southport and certainly no improvement. It's not a consultation, it's a stacked deck. This is not the first time the DfT has employed such tactics either.  

Back in 2018, it was exposed in the House of Commons by Wigan MP Lisa Nandy after FOI requests revealed DfT officials tried to deliberately deceive Southport residents and commuters over a previous attempt to remove this service.

After a long campaign involving local rail groups, several MPs, Sefton Council and Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, this was defeated and the service was fully reinstated in Dec 2019.  

After such a long and hard-fought battle to comprehensively prove its worth, it beggars belief that the DfT is now back once again to try to remove this service.  

We say "Hands Off" our vital rail service - will you join us and sign the petition?

- Sefton Councillors Greg Myers and Gordon Friel.

With support from Cllrs Carran Waterfield, Mhairi Doyle, Janis Blackburne and Sean Halsall.    

You can also respond directly to the consultation and state "no change": https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/timetable-options-to-improve-rail-performance-in-the-north-of-england