Yorkshire 'missed out' on billions in transport investment over last government, research finds
Claims of a "decade of deceit" over transport spend for the North are laid bare today as damning findings are raised over equality of funding.
If the North had seen the same sums as London under the last government it would have received £140bn more, according to think tank IPPR North with IPPR.
For Yorkshire, its analysis of Treasury figures suggests, there was a spend of £441 per person in the decade to 2023, while for London that sum nearly trebled to £1,183.
Last week, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced £10.5bn in transport funds for the North, including £2.1bn for West Yorkshire. She told The Yorkshire Post it was "personal" to her as a Leeds MP to deliver a mass transit system for the region.
Now, in a new report, former Treasury Minister Lord Jim O’Neill leads calls for investment to create a wider ‘Great Northern Rail’ network.
This vision sets out a plan to build a rail network broadly across the North, from Liverpool to Hull and Newcastle, building on Mayors' plans to unlock regional growth.
This won't be a "quick fix", the think-tank warns, but a "big bet" that must be taken to build a better future.
Lord Jim O’Neill, chair of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership (NPP), said the Chancellor was right to focus on productivity and investment in Wednesday’s spending review, but more must be done.
“Good governance requires the guts to take a long-term approach, not just quick fixes," he added. “Backing major infrastructure is the right call. This Spending Review is the right time for the Chancellor to place a big bet on northern growth and begin to close this investment chasm."
The report findings, published today, set out a disparity in transport spending across the regions.
It comes as a second report, from the County Councils Network, suggests one in five rural bus routes have vanished in the past five years, piling pressure on countryside communities.
These areas received just £331 per person to improve services since 2022, compared to sums nearly double that for larger cities and towns.
Inequalities have "ballooned" over the last decade, IPPR now warns, with findings to suggest almost every Northern region has seen less than half the spend, per person, that London has.
Researchers say the £140bn missed out on by the North since 2009/10 is worth more than the entirety of capital spending on transport in the region since the turn of the millennium.
Marcus Johns, senior research fellow at IPPR North said it's been a "decade of deceit", adding: "Today’s figures are concrete proof that promises made to the North over the last decade were hollow.”
The Department for Transport was approached for comment.