THE FALTERING of the £270m attempt to build a light rail link between Fareham, Gosport and Portsmouth has led to a scathing report from MPs questioning the government's commitment to trams.

The Department for Transport had "failed to give a strategic lead in the development of light rail", the report from the House of Commons transport committee said.

Instead of taking a lead, the department had refused to trust local authorities' estimates of their own requirements and been inconsistent in funding decisions, MPs said.

The committee concluded that it seemed "the government no longer wholeheartedly supported trams".

The report came after transport secretary Alistair Darling revoked funding approval for the Hampshire scheme and two others in Manchester and Leeds.

The South Hampshire scheme, aimed at removing three million cars a year from the congested M27 and A32, was 14 years in the planning and has already cost taxpayers £10 million.

It was shelved last July amid escalating costs which rose from £100m to £270m.

A revised cost-cutting scheme is now being considered, but it drops the link between Fareham train station and the town centre.

The committee's chairman Gwyneth Dunwoody said: "Trams aren't a magic answer to every transport problem. But they certainly aren't anywhere near as crackpot as some people would have us believe.

"The government takes a long time to make decisions, the private sector is supposed to bear the risks, and then everyone seems surprised that those risks now have a price attached."

Fareham's civic chief Councillor Sean Woodward added: "It's been very clear for years that the only support given by this government is to anything in Labour areas.

"Arguably the most important component of it between Fareham train station and the town centre has gone."