But it does make a valid point.
The expense of OHLE when a diesel shuttle offers a comparable if not improved service frequency. Though lots of buses can't be any more environmentally friendly.
Electrification of branch lines shouldn't be the priority when resources are finite.
The problem is without branch lines being electrified, it's difficult to electrify enough route mileage to justify any electrification. You risk having only a small number of route miles electrified and no services being converted. You do need a reasonable number of route miles electrified on any given route to even justify a bi-mode diesel unit, they don't like engines stopping then starting again after only a few miles of electric running.
The previous model of main line focused electrification doesn't work particularly well because of the way in which the railway is divided into different train operating companies, and with it, TOC specific depots with dedicated rolling stock and dedicated driver pools. MML wiring, which everybody thinks is a panacea, isn't perfect. It needs to be the start of a rolling program, not a once in a two decade project like GWML, ECML and WCML projects were.
Electrification now has to focus on groups of routes and look at which diagrams, and eventually, which fleets and then which depots can be fully converted from diesel to electric traction. There's not the mixture of driver links, rolling stock, traction and route knowledge that there was under British Rail, when we could simply cover one route which is only partially electrified by rostering staff and traction from another depot, or by swapping locomotives en route.
It's for this reason that Blackpool South wasn't wired - there's a few chains of wiring running onto the branch but it was slightly pointless to wire the full branch because at the time, services from Blackpool South ran to Colne (and still do on Sundays, I believe). It's a decision that was based on the need for Blackpool South rolling stock to be diesel powered (though a Class 769 would be an option now - but it wasn't at the time electrification was authorised).
The core TransPennine route is the same but different problem - without electrifying to Redcar and Scarborough, there's a high risk of the Class 68 and Mark 5 stock running under our shiny new wiring, with only the Class 802 units making full use of the wiring. If you wire in the branches to Redcar and Scarborough, suddenly you can swap the Class 68 diesel for a Class 88 electric locomotive. It wouldn't normally be a higher priority than Selby and Hull electrification, but with rolling stock considerations and converting entire routes, it rather becomes an issue.