"INSANE".
That's how Great Grimsby MP Austin Mitchell has described proposals to scrap North East Lincolnshire's direct rail service to Manchester.
The veteran Labour representative, pictured, due to step down next year, said the area was the most neglected in the country when it comes to rail services.
He said: "TransPennine operate a very good service and we need it, it is well used. It is often overcrowded and people are forced to stand up all the way to Manchester.
"It is insane to say Grimsby people won't be able to use it.
"If the plans go ahead then TransPennine will lose their current trains and will have to replace them with smaller, less comfortable ones.
"It will only make it worse. I think George Osborne has a real cheek to announce new high-speed rail links to Leeds and Manchester when we are suffering.
"It is insulting for the government to brush us off like this."
The government's consultation document states that many passengers from our region are only travelling as far as Doncaster, before changing routes, and not travelling across the Pennines.
Passenger loadings are high between Manchester Airport and Doncaster, but low between Doncaster and Cleethorpes, it added.
Cleethorpes MP Martin Vickers has also weighed in with his support, and says he will do all he can to resist the plans.
When the plans were announced, he said: "I am totally opposed to the proposals. TransPennine Express has done an excellent job in recent years building up patronage between Cleethorpes Grimsby and Doncaster stations.
"I will be challenging any proposal to revamp the service," he said.
The Hull and Humber Chamber is also backing the campaign to save the "vital commuter link".
Spokesman David Hooper said: "It's a vital commuter line linking Cleethorpes to Manchester and the East Coast Mainline, which is well used by business people and other passengers alike.
"It seems ironic when we have just had a lot of excitement about the improvement of rail links with HS3 from Manchester to Leeds and possibly Hull, that a few days later we are talking about the possible cut of an important service.
"We are also working hard, alongside Cleethorpes MP Martin Vickers, to get a direct link to London reintroduced.
"This is going against the tide and it's not something we want to see."
A spokesperson for First TransPennine Express (FTPE) said: "The Department for Transport (DfT) is responsible for the specifications for rail franchises across the country.
"Our current franchise is due to finish on April 1, 2015, although we are in early stage discussions to continue operating the franchise until February 2016, after which, new franchises are due to commence.
"The DfT has indicated that it values two separate rail franchises for the north of England and has acknowledged the customer improvements made and inter-city services provided by FTPE in the last ten years of operation.
"Specifications for franchises after February 2016 are expected to be released by the summer and are expected to include details of the services intended to be operated for consultation.
"In the meantime, FTPE is committed to continuing to improve rail services across the north of England and into Scotland, building in the successful implementation of our new timetable that has followed the recent £60m investment in our services."
The consultation ends on August 18 and can be viewed at www.gov.uk/government/news/government-consults-on-the-future-of-rail-services-in-the-north.
We will send everything we receive onto those responsible for the consultation.
You can respond directly to them by e-mailing NorthernTPEconsultation2014@dft.gsi.gov.uk.
Alternatively, write to Northern TPE Consultation Co-Ordinator, 4/15 Great Minster House, 33 Horseferry Road, London, SW1P 4DR.
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