‘We must rise to challenge of ending regional transport gap’
THE COUNTRY has a once-in-alifetime opportunity to address its imbalanced economy by developing a serious programme of investment in transport infrastructure around regions of the UK, according to a Yorkshire MP.
Barnsley Central MP Dan Jarvis told a Westminster Hall debate that the current feeling of disempowerment and alienation felt by many “begs a very big question about how we give people a stake in our communities and our country as a whole”.
The Sheffield City Region mayor, leading a debate on investment in regional transport infrastructure, said: “I believe the answer to that is how we respond to people’s concerns about Britain’s regional divide.
“We have to respond to those concerns by strengthening our regional policy so we have a joined-up approach to addressing the structural imbalances in our economy.
“I think we have a once-in-alifetime opportunity to put this right and I believe that collectively we must rise to that challenge.
Because as we face the future we need all parts of our country contributing to Britain’s national prosperity and in the North we are prepared to do our bit.
“But Government, in turn, must recognise the crucial role transport infrastructure will play in helping us to do that.”
The debate also heard contributions from Hull MP Emma Hardy, York’s Rachael Maskell and Thirsk and Malton MP Kevin Hollinrake, a Conservative, who said the productivity gap in the UK was still a huge issue.
He said: “This is not about spending for spending’s sake, this is about the prosperity of the people we represent. There is no doubt there have been disproportionate levels of spending in the capital rather than in the regions.
“We know that if we reallocate we can redress that balance and we can transform the economy right across the UK.”
Responding for the Government, Transport Minister Jesse Norman said: “I don’t think there can be much doubt that successive governments under-invested in the North. We recognise that.
“But we are not investing in the North just because of that, we are investing in the North because it is the right thing to do and in the interests of our nation.”
We are investing in the North because it is the right thing to do. Transport Minister
Jesse Norman