After their rose garden tryst, David Cameron and Nick Clegg renew their coalition vows with a “brief encounter” at a train shed in Birmingham, announcing a £9bn boost for Britain’s railways.
Projects expected to benefit include the electrification of lines from Bedford to Sheffield, local routes in the Welsh Valleys and an extension of the electrification of the Manchester to Leeds line.
A series of projects around Manchester will improve northern rail capacity, and there will be upgrades to the East Coast line from London to Leeds and Newcastle.
The east-west link from Oxford and Aylesbury to Milton Keynes in Buckinghamshire will be reopened.
Over the weekend Mr Cameron urged Conservatives and Liberal Democrats to come together behind the coalition and not to descend into “division and navel-gazing”.
His appeal follows last week’s Tory revolt which threatens to derail Mr Clegg’s plans for House of Lords reform.
Former Lib Dem leader Sir Menzies Campbell warned that his party’s MPs may refuse to back Conservative plans to re-draw parliamentary boundaries – thought to be worth an extra 20 seats to the Tories at the next general election – unless Lords reform goes ahead.
“If you are a Liberal Democrat MP whose seat has been pretty substantially carved up as a result of the proposals for a review of the boundaries, then the idea that you would simply march into the lobby in support of the Conservative Government’s particular anxiety to obtain this piece of legislation is one that may be very hard to swallow,” he said.
Former Conservative defence secretary Liam Fox said the Tories needed to be more assertive with their partners, saying: “We have a particular problem – which is the Liberal Democrats.
“What I think they have to remember is that they are a sixth of the coalition, not half the coalition.”
Writing in The Sunday Times, Mr Cameron said: “People see riots and financial instability across Europe on the television news. They will tolerate tough choices if they see that you stand up for the right things together.
“But they will not tolerate division and navel-gazing. They know that the problems are big and they do not want to see politicians fall out in the process of dealing with them.
“That is why we must rise to the challenge, recognise the extraordinary and challenging nature of the times we live in – and serve the national interest by delivering a strong, decisive and united government.”
Shadow transport secretary Maria Eagle said the railway investment would only come through after the next general election in 2015.
“It is rail investment now, not post-dated cheques, that will deliver jobs and growth,” she said.
“The Tory-led government cut the rail investment plans they inherited by more than three-quarters of a billion pounds and have presided over two years of dither and delay over vital rail projects and train procurement.
“Setting out plans for way beyond the next election helps the industry to plan ahead, but does nothing to boost the economy now.”