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Government spends six times more per person on transport in London than the North, new figures reveal

New figures suggest the Government is spending more just on Crossrail in London than on all projects across the whole of northern England

Monday 08 August 2016 00:01 BST

Crossrail is budgeted to cost almost £15bn to deliver in full (Getty)

The Government is being urged to close a north-south divide in transport spending that has seen more public money spent on London’s new “Elizabeth” Tube line than on all projects across northern England combined.

A new analysis reveals that the Department for Transport will spend just £280 per person in the North over the next four years of Conservative government – compared with £1,870 per person in London.

Theresa May has previously stressed the importance of bridging the north-south divide in terms of industrial strategy for Britain, but is yet to endorse the former Chancellor George Osborne’s policy of promoting a so-called “Northern Powerhouse”.

The £1,600 North-South divide

Sources: HM Treasury (2016), National Infrastructure Pipeline Spreadsheet, Spring 2016 update; ONS (2016) Subnational Population Projections for Local Authorities in England; and ONS (2016) Census: WU01UK - Location of usual residence and place of work by sex (IPPR)

And new figures show that, in terms of transport spending at least, the Government will spend more on those in London and the South-east regions than in the North by a factor of six to one.

The figures have been released by the progressive think-tank the Institute For Public Policy Research (IPPR), which described the lack of investment in transport links across northern England as a “national disgrace”.

The report from IPPR said the total spend on Crossrail, the project to build the new Tube line named after the Queen, will be £4.6bn between 2016-17 and 2020-21, exceeding spending on all projects in the North (£4.3bn) put together.

England's North-east will see £300 per person, the North West £290, Yorkshire & Humber £250, and London £1,900, it found.

Ed Cox, director of IPPR’s northern office, suggested a link between this disparity across different parts of the country and the strong turnout in support of Brexit in many regions of England at the referendum.

“The referendum result showed that now more than ever, we need a ‘North First’ approach to investment,” he said. “To build Theresa May’s ‘Better Britain’, we must focus on a better North.”

Sadiq Khan on TfL fares

The IPPR has written to Chris Grayling, the new Transport Secretary, urging him to close the £1,600 transport spending gap and allow the North to "take control" of its own funding decisions.

The IPPR’s director in London, Tom Kibasi, said: “The time it takes to travel, on hugely dated infrastructure, between our great regional cities is a national disgrace – this is not what happens in Germany, Japan or France, with their fantastic rail links, or the United States, with its highly developed regional air travel.

“Given the Brexit result, the North of England must urgently see growing prosperity. A proper east-west crossing would boost northern and UK growth, and must now take priority above all other major transport projects, including Crossrail 2 and HS2.”

The 6 most important issues Theresa May needs to address

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1/6The 6 most important issues Theresa May needs to address

The 6 most important issues Theresa May needs to address

Brexit

The big one. Theresa May has spoken publicly three times since declaring her intent to stand in the Tory Leadership race, and each time she has said, ‘Brexit means Brexit.’ It sounds resolute, but it is helpful to her that Brexit is a made up word with no real meaning. She has said there will be ‘no second referendum’ and no re-entry in to the EU via the back door. But she, like the Leave campaign of which she was not a member, has pointedly not said with any precision what she thinks Brexit means

Reuters

The 6 most important issues Theresa May needs to address

General election

This is very much one to keep off the to do list. She said last week there would be ‘no general election’ at this time of great instability. But there have already been calls for one from opposition parties. The Fixed Term Parliaments Act of 2010 makes it far more difficult to call a snap general election, a difficulty she will be in no rush to overcome. In the event of a victory for Leadsom, who was not popular with her own parliamentary colleagues, an election might have been required, but May has the overwhelming backing of the parliamentary party

Getty

The 6 most important issues Theresa May needs to address

HS2

Macbeth has been quoted far too much in recent weeks, but it will be up to May to decide whether, with regard to the new high speed train link between London, Birmingham, the East Midlands and the north, ‘returning were as tedious as go o’er.’ Billions have already been spent. But the £55bn it will cost, at a bare minimum, must now be considered against the grim reality of significantly diminished public finances in the short to medium term at least. It is not scheduled to be completed until 2033, by which point it is not completely unreasonable to imagine a massive, driverless car-led transport revolution having rendered it redundant

EPA

The 6 most important issues Theresa May needs to address

Heathrow expansion

Or indeed Gatwick expansion. Or Boris Island, though that option is seems as finished as the man himself. The decision on where to expand aviation capacity in the south east has been delayed to the point of becoming a national embarrassment. A final decision was due in autumn. Whatever is decided, there will be vast opprobrium

PA

The 6 most important issues Theresa May needs to address

Trident renewal

David Cameron indicated two days ago that there will be a Commons vote on renewing Britain’s nuclear deterrent on July 18th, by which point we now know, Ms May will be Prime Minister. The Labour Party is, to put it mildly, divided on the issue. This will be an early opportunity to maximise their embarrassment, and return to Tory business as usual

EPA

The 6 most important issues Theresa May needs to address

Scottish Independence

Nicola Sturgeon and the SNP are in no doubt that the Brexit vote provides the opportunity for a second independence referendum, in which they can emerge victorious. The Scottish Parliament at Holyrood has the authority to call a second referendum, but Ms May and the British Parliament are by no means automatically compelled to accept the result. She could argue it was settled in 2014

AFP/Getty

The Department for Transport said Mr Grayling would be responding formally to the IPPR’s letter in due course, but pointed to a package of upcoming projects in the North that include exploratory work on HS3 between Leeds and Manchester, proposals for a trans-Pennine tunnel between Sheffield and Manchester and £200 of investment in a new government body called Transport for the North.

In a statement, Mr Grayling said: “As the Prime Minister has said, we will govern for the whole United Kingdom and look to build an economy that works for everyone.

“Transport for the North are working to develop a Northern Transport Strategy and we are already making the biggest investment in transport infrastructure in generations, spending £13bn in transport across the region to improve journeys for local people, help industry grow and boost productivity.”

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