May refuses calls for North to take control of transport
But PM still committed to funding of major initiatives in the region
The North is being supported in terms of funding for transport. Prime Minister Theresa May defends the Government’s spending plans.
PRIME MINISTER Theresa May has refused to back calls for transport bosses in the North to be given the same powers as their London counterparts, in a bid to deliver £70bn of road and rail improvements and close the yawning divide between Yorkshire’s transport infrastructure and the capital.
Mrs May told The Yorkshire Post in an exclusive interview that the Government remains committed to providing funding for major transport initiatives in the North with the region already benefiting from “the biggest investment in a generation”, only weeks after a 30-year vision was proposed to bolster the region’s beleaguered road and rail network.
Former Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott described the £70bn Transport for the North proposals as a “fraud” last month because the organisation lacks the same revenue raising and borrowing powers as Transport for London and is dependent on finding other sources of income to pay for ambitious plans including the creation of a “world-class railway for the North” that would cut journey times between Leeds and Manchester to 30 minutes. But when asked by The Yorkshire Post if there was any prospect of TfN being given the same powers as TfL, Mrs May said they were “two different sorts of organisation”.
“Transport for London actually runs some of the transport in London and that is why it has got the revenue stream that is there.
“Transport for the North is about co-ordinating and bringing together across the North in a strategic way, looking at what transport structures across the north should be. So it is a slightly different focus they both have.
“We are already putting significant sums of money into transport across the North, the biggest investment in transport in the North for a generation under this Government. We have put money into the North’s ability to prepare this vision and look at what might be necessary for the future. The North is being supported in terms of funding for transport.”
In November, the Government made TfN, backed with £260m of Government funding, the first regional body to be allowed to create a statutory transport strategy which the Government must formally consider when taking funding decisions.
But Lord Jim O’Neill, one of the architects of the Northern Powerhouse project and a former Treasury Minister under George Osborne, said it was “crucial” TfN would eventually have the same powers as those seen in London. Barnsley MP and One Yorkshire devolution advocate Dan Jarvis who said more ambition was needed to “rectify decades of under-investment in Northern transport infrastructure”.
TfN’s plans to help pay for its transport vision include using revenues from vehicle excise duty and the expected surpluses from the North’s two major rail franchises, and taking advantage of increases land values in areas of major infrastructure investment.
When asked what assurances she could give that the transport vision will be delivered, Mrs May said TfN is still “taking views on that 30-year vision”. She added: “We are committed to ensuring that we are seeing improvements in transport infrastructure across the North. There is £13bn going into transport infrastructure in the North, the biggest investment for a generation.”
PRIME MINISTER Theresa May has defended the Coalition Government’s decision to treble university tuition fees in 2010 – despite launching a review of the higher education sector after warning that British students now pay some of the highest fees in the world.
Mrs May was Home Secretary in December 2010 and the thenCabinet Minister voted in favour of a policy to increase tuition fees to a maximum of £9,000-peryear. The vast majority of courses now cost the current annual maximum of £9,250.
In launching a major review of how post-18 education works in this country, Mrs May said in a speech in Derby yesterday afternoon: “The competitive market between universities which the system of variable tuition fees envisaged has simply not emerged.
“The level of fees do not relate to the quality or cost of the course. We now have one of the most expensive systems of university tuition in the world.” But when asked by The Yorkshire Post hours later whether the 2010 decision had been a mistake, she said the policy had allowed more people to attend university than had previously been the case. “There are lots of things about the current system that work well,” she said.
“We took the decision in 2010 in the circumstances at the time and the system that was put in place has delivered a number of advantages in the higher education sector. We do see more people from disadvantaged backgrounds going to university, we do see more students going to university. Being able to take the cap off was a crucial part of that.
“But now we want to look across the system, because I recognise the concerns that students themselves but also their parents, their grandparents have about levels of debt to make sure we have got the balance and it is a system that is fair for students and fair for taxpayers.
“What we want to do is say how can we improve the system, how can we make sure in terms of the financing and funding we do see people from every background be able to go to university? We do have more people from disadvantaged backgrounds going to university today but we just want to make sure the system that enables people to go.”
Mrs May said the review was intended to be wider than the issue of tuition fees.
“What we need to is look across the whole question of education post-18 and say have we got the system right? I think there is an expectation of university when it is not right for everybody.
“We want to make sure other routes like apprenticeships and technical education are there but also are valued. If somebody says, ‘I’m going to be an apprentice’, everybody says that is a great thing to do.”
The review, which will be led by finance expert and author Philip Augar and is expected to take around a year, will focus on four key questions, Mrs May said: ensuring education is accessible to all, the funding system, encouraging choice and competition and providing the skills the country needs.
According to estimates by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), the average student can now leave university owing more than £50,000.
The debate over university finance was initially sparked in part by a Labour Party election pledge to scrap tuition fees for future students.
But Mrs May said it is right that students contribute to the cost of their education.
“I believe – as do most people, including students – that those who benefit directly from higher education should contribute directly towards the cost of it,” she said. “That is only fair.”
Shifting the burden of university tuition onto the taxpayer would mean tax increases for the majority of people who did not go to university, leave universities competing with schools and hospitals for funding and lead to the re-introduction of a cap on student numbers, Mrs May argued.
What we need to is look across the whole question of education Prime Minister Theresa May calls for a review of Britain’s expensive education sector.
GIVEN THE strategic importance of high-speed rail to the North of England’s future economy, this was a missed opportunity for the Prime Minister to seize the initiative over the crucial issue of the North’s transport infrastructure.
Speaking exclusively to The Yorkshire Post, Theresa May stopped short of saying transport bosses here should be given the same powers as their London counterparts, though she insisted the Government remains committed to funding major infrastructure projects, saying it was providing “the biggest investment in transport in the North for a generation.”
It remains unclear exactly how far this commitment will go. It was only last month that a draft 30-year vision was proposed aimed at overhauling the region’s creaking road and rail network.
However, when asked what assurances she could give that the transport vision will actually be delivered, Mrs May said yesterday that Transport for the North (TfN) was still “taking views” on this grand “vision.”
It’s a far cry from November when the North became the first region in the country to receive specific transport powers from the Government, backed with £260m of funding. This landmark announcement appeared to signal an end to the mixed messages coming out of Downing Street that were stalling progress and inject some much-needed impetus into the northern transport agenda.
At the time, Jim O’Neill, one of the leading architects of the Northern Powerhouse project and a former Treasury Minister, said it was crucial that TfN should be on an equal footing with the capital when it comes to funding powers. This, though, has yet to happen.
All of which may well leave Yorkshire’s beleaguered commuters wondering exactly what will end up being delivered. What is needed now is action rather than words.