North missed £140bn of transport investment over last government, research finds
Independent analysis by think tank the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) looked at Treasury figures between 2009/10 and 2022/23, during which time the Conservatives were in power.
It reached the figure, which it said was enough to build seven Elizabeth Lines, by considering the amount of spending per person across the different English regions over that period.
While England as a whole saw £592 spent per person each year, London received double that amount with £1,183 spent per person, the IPPR said.
The entire North region saw £486 spent per person, with the North East and North West seeing £430 and £540 spent per person respectively.
This amounted to £140 billion of missed investment for the North, more than the entire £83 billion estimate of capital spending on transport in the region since 1999/2000, according to the analysis.
The region with the lowest amount of investment over the period was the East Midlands with just £355 spent per person.
Among the most divisive transport investment projects for the previous government was the HS2 rail project, which was axed north of Birmingham in October 2023.
Then-prime minister Rishi Sunak pledged to 'reinvest every single penny, £36 billion, in hundreds of new transport projects in the North and the Midlands', including improvements to road, rail and bus schemes.
Earlier this week, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced a £15.6 billion package for mayoral authorities to use on public transport projects across the North and Midlands ahead of the spending review.
It is expected to include funding to extend the metros in Tyne and Wear, Greater Manchester and the West Midlands, along with a renewed tram network in South Yorkshire and a new mass transit system in West Yorkshire.
Rachel Reeves has set out plans for new transport investment in the North and Midlands (Peter Byrne/PA)
Marcus Johns, senior research fellow at IPPR North, said: 'Today's figures are concrete proof that promises made to the North over the last decade were hollow. It was a decade of deceit.
'We are 124 years on from the end of Queen Victoria's reign, yet the North is still running on infrastructure built during her rein – while our transport chasm widens.
'This isn't London bashing – Londoners absolutely deserve investment. But £1,182 per person for London and £486 for northerners? The numbers don't lie – this isn't right.
'This Government have begun to restore fairness with their big bet on transport cash for city leaders.
'They should continue on this journey to close this investment gap in the upcoming spending review and decades ahead.'
Former Treasury minister Lord Jim O'Neill said: 'Good governance requires the guts to take a long-term approach, not just quick fixes. So the Chancellor is right in her focus on the UK's long-standing supply-side weaknesses – namely our woeful productivity and weak private and public investment.
'Backing major infrastructure is the right call, and 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.
'But it's going to take more than commitments alone – she'll need to set out a transparent framework for delivery.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
BBC News
23 minutes ago
- BBC News
Wales not given fair funding for rail, says Lee Waters
Wales does not get its "fair share of rail funding" and the system must be "fixed", said a former Labour minister responsible for for a £6.6bn Oxford-Cambridge rail line were previously classified as an England-only project, which means Wales could have been entitled to more the Treasury announced there was a "publishing error" in a 2020 document and it should have been classified as an England and Wales Waters, the Labour MS for Llanelli said the "cock-up" highlights the broader issue of how "unclear" and in need of reform the funding system is. Rail in Wales is not devolved, which means funding is determined through the UK government using the Barnett formula. Speaking to BBC Radio Wales Breakfast on Monday, Waters said: "Is it cockup, is it a conspiracy? Who knows - almost always a cockup in my experience."But he said "it speaks to the broader truth" that "the system needs fixing".He said: "We have not had our fair share of funding, the formula does not work to our advantage. "It is not clear how the formula works and therefore we don't trust when things like this pop up."Waters said only a few weeks ago the Welsh government "had to dip into our own coffers" to pay for the national insurance costs, which should be covered by the UK government as per a Treasury agreement."We need to reform the Barnett formula," Waters said. "We need to have the UK treasury acting as a UK treasury for the whole of the UK, not just for whoever happens to be in government in England at the time."He added that this is not "a party issue" because "this happened under the last government, it's happening under this government".He said it is "the government machine" which must be "changed and fixed".He said he is "confident" his London colleagues are ensuring Wales gets more funding, but is "less confident" they are trying to reform the Barnett said part of the issue is there "is not a Wales pot of money for rail, we have to fight our corner in the England and Wales pot."Waters said: "There's a UK Labour manifesto commitment to create a Wales fund for schemes so there can be transparency."But he said he is "nervous" about "wholesale devolution of rail without the extra funding", because it comes with the responsibility of repair work. He said: "You can argue we should get the extra funding, but it's back to 'do we trust the UK funding arrangements to do that?'"The UK government previously said the "error" over the Oxford-Cambridge line classification "will be amended when an update is published at the spending review".The HM Treasury has been approached for comment.
Times
25 minutes ago
- Times
Business live: Starmer pledges extra £1bn to boost UK tech power
Sir Keir Starmer said this morning that the government would invest an extra £1 billion worth of funding to scale up the UK's computing power by a factor of twenty. Opening London Tech Week, the prime minister said: 'We are determined to be the best state partner for tech entrepreneurs anywhere in the world.' In January, the government set out its plan for AI, committing to 'set out, within six months, a long-term plan for the UK's AI infrastructure needs'. Tech companies are hoping for more news in Rachel Reeves's spending review this week, including on so-called AI growth zones, which would speed up planning approval and clean energy for data centres. Jensen Huang, the chief executive of Nvidia, has called Britain's AI sector 'the envy of the world' but said it is missing one 'surprising' thing: AI infrastructure (Katie Prescott reports). Speaking to Sir Keir Starmer and Baroness Gustafsson, the minister for investment, at the opening of London Tech Week this morning, Huang said: 'If you're in the world of AI, you do machine-learning. You can't do machine-learning without a machine and so the ability to build these AI supercomputers here in the UK will naturally attract more start-ups.' China and Britain should maintain sustained, stable and healthy development of economic relations, the Chinese vice-premier He Lifeng has told the chancellor Rachel Reeves in London, according to a report on the state-run broadcaster China Central Television (CCTV). He is meeting the chancellor while he is in London for a second round of trade talks with top US officials. The talks come as the Chinese owner of British Steel is in an entrenched stand-off with UK ministers over a compensation claim for more than £1 billion. Jingye, owner of the Victorian steelworks in Scunthorpe, is said to want a nine-figure payout from British taxpayers. A majority stake in the British skincare brand Medik8 has been sold to L'Oréal, the French cosmetics giant. The deal bolsters the French company's position in the fast-growing dermatological skincare market. The stake is being sold by the UK-based private equity firm Inflexion. No financial details were disclosed. L'Oréal said: 'This acquisition further strengthens L'Oréal's luxe portfolio, adding a premium science-backed skincare brand with a proven track record of success, with strong potential for global growth.' Medik8 was founded in 2009 by the British scientist Elliot Isaacs. Trade talks in London today between the US and China are expected to attempt to revive a preliminary trade agreement reached in Geneva last month, which broke down after President Trump accused China violating the agreement and threatened to impose triple-digit tariffs on Chinese goods. Beijing's leverage is its near-stranglehold on rare earth minerals that are critical to many high-tech sectors. Kevin Hassett, head of the National Economic Council at the White House, said on CBS's Face the Nation on Sunday: 'We want the rare earths, the magnets that are crucial for cell phones and everything else to flow just as they did before the beginning of April and we don't want any technical details slowing that down.' The UK has retained its lead as Europe's most attractive destination for foreign direct investment (FDI) into financial services, despite a 32 per cent drop in activity. EY's latest Attractiveness Survey for financial services shows the country recorded 73 projects in 2024. Germany was second with 32 projects, down 16 per cent year-on-year, while France was third with 30 projects, down 23 per cent over the year. Total financial services FDI projects across Europe fell from 329 in 2023 to 293 in 2024, a year-on-year decrease of 11 per cent. Shares in the advertising giant WPP are down after news that Mark Read is to step down as chief executive. The chipmaker Alphawave, which is not in the FTSE 100, has jumped 20 per cent after agreeing to a takeover by Qualcomm. Here are the main risers and fallers on the FTSE 100. The FTSE 100 has opened largely flat — up just 10 points, or 0.1 per cent, at 8,849.42. The more UK-focused FTSE 250 is unchanged at 21,157.77. The pound is at $1.3566 against the dollar and €1.1876 against the euro. The ten-year gilt yield is down slightly at 4.62 per cent. A weaker dollar has lifted the price of gold to $3,323.78 an ounce, up 0.4 per cent. Revolution Beauty has said that the billionaire retail entrepreneur Mike Ashley's Frasers Group was among several parties conducting due diligence for a potential takeover. The struggling British company, which sells make-up and cosmetics online and through concessions in stores, put itself up for sale last month. Boohoo, the online retailer which has renamed itself Debenhams, has a 27 per cent stake, according to FactSet. Frasers also has a stake in Boohoo. Revolution Beauty said: 'There can be no certainty that Frasers' interest will result in a firm offer.' The London-listed chip designer Alphaware is recommending that shareholders accept a $2.4 billion takeover bid from the US chipmaker Qualcomm. Alphawave investors will receive 183p per share under the deal, a more than 90 per cent premium to its closing price before Qualcomm disclosed its interest in the company. Arm Holdings, the US-listed, Cambridge-based chip designer, was also said to have been interested in Alphawave. Mark Read is to step down as chief executive of WPP at the end of the year. In a brief stock exchange statement the advertising giant said that a search for a successor is under way. 'After seven years in the role, and with the foundations in place for WPP's continued success, I feel it is the right time to hand over the leadership of this amazing company,' Read said. • WPP boss to leave amid industry turmoil created by AI His departure follows the appointment of Philip Jansen as chairman of WPP at the start of the year. WPP shares have fallen 32 per cent since the start of the year and are down 56 per cent since Read's appointment in September 2018. The FTSE 100 has risen 18 per cent over the period. Markets have been buoyed by optimism that the United States and China will ease trade tensions when representatives of both nations meet in London on Monday. Shares on Asian stock markets bounced, with Tokyo's Nikkei 225 index and Hong Kong's Hang Seng both gaining 1 per cent. Markets in Europe are expected to be more subdued. Scott Bessent, the US Treasury secretary, and other top Trump aides are expected to meet their Chinese counterparts at an undisclosed venue in London for talks to resolve the trade war between the nations. It comes as data from China showed export growth slowed to a three-month low in May, hit by US tariffs, and amid protests in Los Angeles over President Trump's immigration policies. • The government will deliver just over half of the 1.5 million new homes it has promised to build by 2029, according to Savills, the property agent, and there are fears the spending review this week could exacerbate the housing crisis.• The pharmaceutical industry has rejected a government offer to cut the cost of a contentious NHS drug pricing scheme as 'falling significantly short'• Nvidia has unveiled a slew of UK partnerships to boost artificial intelligence capabilities as concern increases that Britain is falling behind in the race to develop the technology. The $3.5 trillion multinational chip producer said it would work with the government to help businesses make use of AI.• Economic data released this week is expected to show wage growth moderated and that joblessness rose in the spring while the economy contracted.
Telegraph
35 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Rachel Reeves has made tax rises inevitable
This Wednesday, Rachel Reeves will be in the firing line once again. The event in question will not be a Budget, or even a mini-Budget, but rather a spending review. But such is the pressure on the public finances that the political and economic ramifications will be significant. On the face of it, this review is meant to spell out the details of departmental spending within the overall totals that have already been set to 2028/29 for current day-to-day spending and to 2029/30 for capital spending. Such reviews are not, therefore, meant to be the vehicle for announcing major changes in fiscal policy. There is now supposedly only one major fiscal event for this purpose, namely the autumn Budget, with a subsidiary event, the Spring Statement, which was delivered in March. That said, it would not come as a surprise if the Chancellor increased the spending totals on Wednesday. After all, if defence spending is increased to 3pc of GDP (costing over £17bn per annum by 2029/30) and spending on health increases by 3.4pc in real terms per annum, this would imply that other departments would have to suffer an average real terms reduction in their budgets of 1.8pc per annum out to the end of the review period. Good luck with selling that to the Labour Party. Admittedly, although at one point increasing defence spending to 3pc of GDP was supposedly a 'commitment', more recently it seems to have been downgraded to an 'ambition'.
