
North missed £140bn of transport investment during last government
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.'
Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, said: 'For too long, the North of England has been treated as a poor relation to the South when it comes to government spending on transport infrastructure, and this analysis makes stark reading – exposing the vast scale of underfunding over many years.
'The Chancellor's announcement of £2.5 billion funding for transport in Greater Manchester will be a game-changer for our city-region, enabling us to expand the Bee Network, and deliver the UK's first, zero emission, integrated, public transport system by 2030.
'We have also made the case for a new Liverpool-Manchester railway, which would further rebalance infrastructure investment, and could boost the UK economy by £90 billion by 2040.'
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

ITV News
36 minutes ago
- ITV News
Reeves to say spending review will reflect ‘priorities of working people'
Rachel Reeves will unveil her spending review on Wednesday, arguing that her priorities are 'the priorities of working people'. The Chancellor is expected to focus on 'Britain's renewal' as she sets out her spending plans for the coming years, with big increases for the NHS, defence and schools. Arguing that the Government is 'renewing Britain', she will acknowledge that 'too many people in too many parts of the country are yet to feel it'. She will say: 'This Government's task – my task – and the purpose of this spending review is to change that, to ensure that renewal is felt in people's everyday lives, their jobs, their communities.' Among the main announcements is expected to be a £30 billion increase in NHS funding, a rise of around 2.8% in real terms, along with an extra £4.5 billion for schools and a rise in defence spending to 2.5% of GDP. But Wednesday could present a tough prospect for other government as the Chancellor seeks to balance Labour's commitments on spending with her fiscal rules. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has already warned that any increase in NHS funding above 2.5% is likely to mean real-terms cuts for other departments, or further tax rises to come in the budget this autumn. This could mean a budgetary squeeze for areas such as local government, the justice system and the Home Office, despite reports that policing would receive an above-inflation settlement. The Chancellor has already insisted that her fiscal rules remain in place, along with Labour's manifesto commitment not to increase income tax, national insurance or VAT. She will say on Wednesday: 'I have made my choices. In place of chaos, I choose stability. In place of decline, I choose investment. In place of retreat, I choose national renewal. 'These are my choices. These are this Government's choices. These are the British people's choices.' Other announcements expected on Wednesday include £39 billion for social and affordable housing over the next decade as the Government aims to meet its target of building 1.5 million new homes by the next election. The Treasury said this would see annual investment in affordable housing rise to £4 billion by 2029/30, almost double the average of £2.3 billion between 2021 and 2026. The additional spending has been welcomed by homelessness charities, with Crisis calling it 'a determined political signal that housing really matters' and Shelter describing the move as 'a watershed moment in tackling the housing emergency'. The Chancellor has also already announced some £15.6 billion of spending on public transport in England's city regions, and £16.7 billion for nuclear power projects, the bulk of which will fund the new Sizewell C plant in Suffolk. There is also expected to be an extension of the £3 bus fare cap until March 2027 and an extra £445 million for upgrading Welsh railways. But one of the big losers from the spending review could be London, which is not expected to receive funding for any significant infrastructure projects or powers to introduce a tourist levy – both key requests from Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan.


Powys County Times
42 minutes ago
- Powys County Times
Reeves to say spending review will reflect ‘priorities of working people'
Rachel Reeves will unveil her spending review on Wednesday, arguing that her priorities are 'the priorities of working people'. The Chancellor is expected to focus on 'Britain's renewal' as she sets out her spending plans for the coming years, with big increases for the NHS, defence and schools. Arguing that the Government is 'renewing Britain', she will acknowledge that 'too many people in too many parts of the country are yet to feel it'. She will say: 'This Government's task – my task – and the purpose of this spending review is to change that, to ensure that renewal is felt in people's everyday lives, their jobs, their communities.' Among the main announcements is expected to be a £30 billion increase in NHS funding, a rise of around 2.8% in real terms, along with an extra £4.5 billion for schools and a rise in defence spending to 2.5% of GDP. But Wednesday could present a tough prospect for other government as the Chancellor seeks to balance Labour's commitments on spending with her fiscal rules. The Institute for Fiscal Studies has already warned that any increase in NHS funding above 2.5% is likely to mean real-terms cuts for other departments, or further tax rises to come in the budget this autumn. This could mean a budgetary squeeze for areas such as local government, the justice system and the Home Office, despite reports that policing would receive an above-inflation settlement. The Chancellor has already insisted that her fiscal rules remain in place, along with Labour's manifesto commitment not to increase income tax, national insurance or VAT. She will say on Wednesday: 'I have made my choices. In place of chaos, I choose stability. In place of decline, I choose investment. In place of retreat, I choose national renewal. 'These are my choices. These are this Government's choices. These are the British people's choices.' Other announcements expected on Wednesday include £39 billion for social and affordable housing over the next decade as the Government aims to meet its target of building 1.5 million new homes by the next election. The Treasury said this would see annual investment in affordable housing rise to £4 billion by 2029/30, almost double the average of £2.3 billion between 2021 and 2026. The additional spending has been welcomed by homelessness charities, with Crisis calling it 'a determined political signal that housing really matters' and Shelter describing the move as 'a watershed moment in tackling the housing emergency'. The Chancellor has also already announced some £15.6 billion of spending on public transport in England's city regions, and £16.7 billion for nuclear power projects, the bulk of which will fund the new Sizewell C plant in Suffolk. There is also expected to be an extension of the £3 bus fare cap until March 2027 and an extra £445 million for upgrading Welsh railways. But one of the big losers from the spending review could be London, which is not expected to receive funding for any significant infrastructure projects or powers to introduce a tourist levy – both key requests from Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan.


The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Welsh railways to get £445m investment in spending review
Welsh railways are set to receive a £445 million investment when the Chancellor announces her spending plans for the coming years on Wednesday. Rachel Reeves is expected to announce the additional funding as part of her spending review, aiming to address what the Treasury sees as years of underinvestment in Welsh infrastructure. Understood to be a combination of direct funding and additional money for the Welsh government, the investment is expected to be spent on projects such as fixing level crossings, building new stations and upgrading railway lines. A Treasury source said: 'With this Government, Wales will thrive, and the Chancellor has prioritised bringing forward a package that has the potential to be truly transformative.' On Tuesday, Welsh First Minister Eluned Morgan told members of the Senedd that her government was 'expecting something positive from the spending review'. She said: 'I've been clear and I've been consistent when it comes to rail funding that we have not been getting our fair share of funding, in a position that the Tories left us with for over a decade. 'The difference between the Tories and the UK Labour Government is that they've recognised that injustice.' Baroness Morgan's comments came in response to criticism from Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth of a decision to classify the £6.6 billion Oxford-to-Cambridge line as an England and Wales project. The designation means Wales will not receive the additional rail funding it would get if branded an England-only project. Mr ap Iorwerth said Wales had been 'getting our share until Labour actively moved the goalposts'. The expected announcement of additional funding for Welsh railways is one of several transport-related investments set to be confirmed on Wednesday. Ms Reeves has already announced plans to spend a total of £15.6 billion on public transport projects in England's city regions, and is understood to be preparing to extend the £3 cap on bus fares in England until March 2027.