Government under fire over transport spending in North

Planned transport investment in London is twoand-a-half times higher per person than in the north of England, according to a new study.

London will receive £4,155 per person compared with just £1,600 in the North West, North East and Yorkshire and the Humber regions combined, think tank IPPR North said.

The organisation claimed there “should be significant concern” among road and rail users over the disparity.

It added that England will continue to be “dangerously unbalanced” without further spending outside the capital.

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling sparked anger in July last year by supporting a new £30billion Crossrail 2 scheme in London and the South East and claims per person spending is higher in the North West than the South East, when local transport schemes are taken into account.

IPPR North senior research fellow Luke Raikes said: “The North has been underfunded in comparison to London for decades, and our figures demonstrate that ministers have failed to redress this imbalance.”

A Government spokesman described IPPR North’s analysis as “completely misleading” and “highly unrepresentative” as only a narrow set of projects have published long-term spending projections beyond 2020/21.

The IPPR analysis of planned central and local public/private transport infrastructure spending shows that the South East will see spending in the South East of £1,307 per person and the figure for the North East is £855.