North’s one glimmer of light in Spending Review – The Yorkshire Post says

The Northern Powerhouse didn’t even warrant a mention in Rishi Sunak’s main speech – and the only reference to ‘levelling up’ was a new £4bn fund which will entitle local areas across the country to bid for funds.

And while Mr Sunak will point to extra funding for the schools, and a new British Business Bank to be based in the North, they won’t, on their own, end decades of investment inequality. The one glimmer is proposed changes to the so-called Green Book, the formula used by the Treasury to allocate funds for new projects.

Though the Chancellor overlooked this in his statement, HM Treasury documents point to subtle revisions so that “costs and benefits to society, not just narrowly economic ones” have to be considered by Ministers when considering future applications for new infrastructure.

As a new National Infrastructure Strategy is published, this has the potential – and no more – of the North receiving a greater share of funding in the future. Time will tell – a defining test will be whether the proposed rail link to Doncaster Sheffield Airport is viewed more favourably in the future.

Treasury chief secretary Steve Barclay, Mr Sunak’s deputy, certainly thinks so. He went on national television to describe the Green Book changes as “hugely important”. But he’ll forgive The Yorkshire Post – and other advocates for the North – if we wait and see how the new arrangements operate in practice before passing further judgement.

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