May’s Northern empty promise

Powerless PM vows boost for Powerhouse... but with NO extra cash

LAME-DUCK PM Theresa May has made empty promises to boost the Northern Powerhouse – despite leaving office next month.

She is trying to bind her successor into investing billions in the project five years after its launch.

In that time £13billion has been ploughed into transport, £24million into schools and 287,000 jobs created.

The PM said yesterday: “But there’s much more to do.

“It must remain a top priority for government to do all it can to unlock the North’s vast potential so the Northern Powerhouse continues to thrive. Five years on our pledge is stronger than ever.” Mrs May even repeated her derided slogan that a thriving Northern economy “ensures this country works for everyone.”

But she is not offering a single extra penny.

She is already at loggerheads with Chancellor Philip Hammond over her bid to splurge £27billion on schools before leaving.

Northern Powerhouse minister Jake Berry said northern communities were “overlooked too long. The Government shares their vision and no one is ignoring them anymore.” But he did not promise more funding either. The Powerhouse was introduced by David Cameron’s coalition government in 2014 to boost growth in the North.

It gave spending powers to metro mayors, who now represent almost half the people who live there.

But last year it emerged the Government tried to hide how infrequently a previous Northern Powerhouse minister visited.

The Information Commissioner’s Office suggested “a strategy of wilful procrastination to obstruct a request for information.”