CREWE'S MP Kieran Mullan has welcomed the Chancellor's Autumn Budget and Spending Review, which includes plans to invest in restoring passenger services on a forgotten South to Mid Cheshire rail link.

The rail plans - which if they come to fruition could see direct services between Crewe-Sandbach-Middlewich-Northwich - are part of the government's £4.8 billion Levelling Up Fund, which will also see £232 million delivered to twelve projects, including the regeneration of Liverpool's docks and the renovation of Bury Market.

A bid to the Levelling Up Fund for Crewe and Nantwich is to be made in future funding rounds.

But included in the spending package announced by Rishi Sunak today is a package of up to £50,000 made through the Restoring Your Railway 'Ideas Fund' to develop proposals to reinstate passenger links on three North West region routes, including restoring a station at Middlewich which closed in 1960 as part of the pre-Beeching cuts.

There is still a freight track along the route, which branches off at Sandbach towards Middlewich and a long-running campaign by the Mid Cheshire Rail Users Association has called for the reinstatement of a a Mid Cheshire to Crewe passenger link with new stations at Middlewich and Gadbrook Park at Rudheath on the outskirts of Northwich.

The MP says the investment across the region builds on recent funding awards in Crewe, including the £22.9m Town Deal cash which is to be spent across ten projects including the regeneration of Flag Lane Baths and the rebuilding of the Mirion Street Youth Club.

The Budget also confirmed that five new Community Diagnostic Centres will be built across the region over the next year to target areas of deprivation. While the North West will also benefit from a share of the £2.6 billion UK Shared Prosperity Fund, which is aimed at helping people into jobs and supporting businesses, as well a £560m Youth Investment Fund and National Citizen Service, and £5bn for Project Gigabit to roll out improved broadband for homes and businesses.

The Crewe and Nantwich MP said: "In Crewe and Nantwich we have already seen more than £30 million of investment through our Town Deal and the Future High Streets fund but it is good to see the whole North West being supported as well.

"This Budget will make a real difference to people in Crewe and Nantwich, helping working families with the cost of living and rewarding people who work with more money in their pockets if they work and earn more and rely less on benefits.

"New diagnostic centres will bring down waiting times across the region and cuts to business rates for many high street businesses is going to help our town centres and high streets recover."

"I know people will also welcome the extra investment in local roads for tackling pot holes and patch work. The £5bn for gigabit broadband will also help families and businesses that I know struggle with internet access locally."

The Chancellor has also cut the Universal Credit taper rate from 63 per cent to 55 per cent and raised the National Living Wage to £9.50 an hour in what the government says is an attempt to tackle the scourge of low pay.

A one-year 50 per cent business rates discount for retail, hospitality and leisure sectors is also among today's measures.

But the MP warned: "Public finances remain very challenging and we have built up an enormous debt that will have to be paid back. People know that the easy answer of just taxing well off people more isn't credible. They already pay for an enormous share of our public services. We all have a part to play.

"Even a slight rise in interest rates would be very costly and take money from public services to pay for debt. We also need to make sure we don't make inflationary pressures worse. A very difficult balancing act and we need to avoid a false sense that we are over all the difficulties."