CONSERVATIVE ministers laughed and jeered when a protest was made over trains being swiped from the North to serve Oxfordshire.

Prime Minister’s Questions was interrupted in the Commons when Labour veteran Jack Straw was unable to complete his question, because of the racket.

Chancellor George Osborne and Commons Leader Andrew Lansley joined the prime minister in pointing and laughing at the former Foreign Secretary.

They were immediately accused of welcoming another example of resources being shifted from the North to serve wealthier parts of the South.

And David Cameron – while promising to look into the controversy – even turned it into a joke about the excellent train service in the Chilterns, in his constituency.

The row blew up after the shock decision to withdraw nine trains from the TransPennine Express franchise, which serves towns across the North-East and Yorkshire.

The rail operator itself criticised the transfer, pointing out the decision – taking effect next April - was taken by a rolling stock leasing company.

Tom Blenkinsop, Labour MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, said he feared Middlesbrough would be among the places losing out.

The nine trains will be withdrawn from routes between Manchester and Hull – but the Labour MP said the knock-on effect could hit the Middlesbrough to Manchester Airport line.

He said: “It is absolutely outrageous that carriages in use in the North, on our railways, are now apparently to be transferred to Chiltern Railways.”

On the laughter in the Commons, Mr Blenkinsop added: “They were cheering a redistributive measure - a redistribution of trains and money in the North to the South.”

Most observers believed the laughter was because Mr Straw, the Blackburn MP, has a home in the Chilterns – to where the locomotives will be moved.

Amid the jeering, Mr Straw said: “This may be a laughing matter to Government members, but it is certainly not a laughing matter to people in the North of England.”

In reply, Mr Cameron agreed to “look carefully” at the decision and pointed to other rail improvements, including the electrification of the Trans-Pennine line.

But he added: “I hope that he will not find it too cheeky if I point out that the line that both he and I use, the Cotswold line has also received a lot of extra investment under this Government.

“He now enjoys a double-track line when he makes his journey from my constituency into London.”

TransPennine Express leases the nine trains from a firm called Porterbrook, but will lose them when its current franchise ends, on April 1 next year.

The Department for Transport said replacement trains will be made available – but Mr Blenkinsop said he feared they would be ageing ‘pacers’, already used on local Teesside services.