FASTER train links across the North must be an “early priority”, Ed Balls has said – and built at the same time as huge planned rail improvements in London.

Labour’s Shadow Chancellor pledged to speed ahead with upgrading rail links across the Pennines if his party wins power, plans put forward by the Transport for the North group.

The strategy - with ten proposed new, or upgraded, connections – must first be whittled down from costing an eye-popping £77bn, when unveiled last month.

Meanwhile, the £25bn Crossrail 2 project, in the capital, appears to be further advanced, with a protected route and a consultation planned for the autumn.

But, speaking to The Northern Echo, Mr Balls said: “I think the North of England needs better East-West connectivity and that should be an early priority for the next parliament.

“There’s no reason why that shouldn’t be done at the same time as Crossrail 2, as well as moving ahead with the first stage of HS2.

“It doesn’t need to be the North first or the South first - one shouldn’t take priority over the over. I want to move ahead with all of them and get on with it.”

Mr Balls said recently that it would be “perverse and wrong” for the North to wait 20 years for faster rail services – as it would if HS2 was completed first.

One proposal is for an upgraded Newcastle to Leeds route, taking just 50 minutes, instead of the current 87 minutes, but at a cost of between £8.5bn and £14bn.

Mr Balls’ comments came as he accused David Cameron of secret plans for a £3.8bn raid on tax credits – in contrast to Labour plans to raise them at least in line with rising prices.

This would mean families with one child losing out when their incomes hit £23,000 a year, leaving them over £1,600 a year worse off, he claimed.

Those with two children could lose credits after earning £29,000, at a cost of £2,000 a year, and families earning £12,000 a year will lose at least £550.

Mr Balls said: “Before the last election, David Cameron said it was a lie that he would cut tax credits and then he cut tax credits. In this country we have saying – one bitten, twice shy.”

Quizzed at a campaign event, the prime minister ducked the tax credit claim, but Chief Whip Michael Gove later insisted it was based on “a mistake”.

Instead, tax credits would be wrapped up in the new universal credit. Mr Gove added: “We’re going to freeze them for two years, we are not going to cut them.”