9 June is of course the day we remember the musical trip to the Blaydon Races, when a carriage broke down, losing its wheel and the “lasses lost their crinolines and veils that hide their faces”. It is perhaps appropriate then that disturbing news about transport in the North of England came out on the same day. Research has shown that the North of England has missed out on so much transport funding, in what was described as a ‘decade of deceit’, that we could have built the equivalent of seven Elizabeth lines.
The research by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) and IPPR North, analysing Treasury figures, found that had the north had received the same per-person spending as London, it would have had an extra £140bn over the last tenyears.
The figures showed that London received £1,183 per person per year in the decade to 2022-23, while the north got £486 of transport spending per person – less than half of that given to London per head of population.
It was reported that the regional breakdown of figures was as follows:
- The North West £540
- Yorkshire £441
- The North East £430
This means that here in the North East we received barely a little more than a third of the spending for transport per head of population that they received in London.
To be fair, the report also noted that the East Midlands fared “even worse, with an average of £355 per person spent – less than a third of that received by London”.
Regarding the North, Marcus Johns, a senior research fellow at IPPR North, was quoted as saying: “Today’s figures are concrete proof that promises made to the north over the last decade were hollow. It was a decade of deceit.
“We are 124 years on from the end of Queen Victoria’s reign, yet the north is still running on infrastructure built during her reign, while our transport chasm widens. This isn’t London-bashing – Londoners absolutely deserve investment. But £1,182 per person for London and £486 for northerners? The numbers don’t lie – this isn’t right.”
Johns added: “Ministers have begun to restore fairness with their big bet on transport cash for city leaders. They should continue on this journey to close this investment gap in the upcoming spending review and decades ahead”.
More from the IPPR
In response to the news, IPPR North report that they and IPPR have teamed up with Lord Jim O’Neill to call for ‘Great Northern Rail’ .
This is a plan to create a properly connected and improved rail network across the North, following cash for city regions announced in early June. From Hull and Newcastle to Liverpool, IPPR argue that the network “builds on Mayors’ plans for a credible strategy that could unlock a wide range of economic development and housing growth opportunities – generating regional growth to drive national growth”.
IPPR North accepts that this won’t create a “quick fix”, but they say that the Treasury should take this ‘big bet’ on long-term transformational change,” which would “set the North up for a better future than its recent past”.
It has also been noted that former Treasury Minister and Chair of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, Lord Jim O’Neill said:
“Good governance requires the guts to take a long-term approach, not just quick fixes. So the Chancellor is right in her focus on the UK’s long-standing supply-side weaknesses – namely our woeful productivity and weak private and public investment.
“Backing major infrastructure is the right call, and this Spending Review is the right time for the Chancellor to place a big bet on northern growth and begin to close this investment chasm. But it’s going to take more than commitments alone – she’ll need to set out a transparent framework for delivery.”
The Labour government
Chancellor Rachel Reeves began her term continuing in the same dismal vein, and in January promised money for a third runway at Heathrow , a new Thames crossing and a new Silicon Valley type development between Oxford and Cambridge , while offering very little to the north.
This situation has been changed somewhat with Reeves promising over £15 billion of funding for new public transport schemes in the North, including an extension of the Tyne and Wear Metro to Washington. However, it is surely worth nothing that this only came after disastrous local election results, which saw Reform UK take over a number of northern councils, including County Durham.
The Treasury Green Book
So, who, or perhaps more accurately, what is responsible for the shocking shortfall in investment in the North’s transport systems? Unsurprisingly, the fingerprints of the notorious Treasury Green Book are all over this report.
The Treasury has long held a book of investment rules, known as the Green Book, which determine what funding investment by the government should be blocked and what should be allowed. It is driven by short-term thinking and short-term financial gain.
Through a crude cost-benefit analysis, investment goes where there will be what is seen as the best return for the country. In practice, this means that it goes where there is the quickest return and short-term gain. It is the epitome of short-termism. And as the London and South East area is the fastest growing region economically, this means that investment is concentrated there. Investment is increasingly concentrated in that one corner of the country, so it becomes even more attractive for investment vis-à-vis the north and hence the Green Book reinforces that trend at the expense of other regions.
Reeves has said that she will tear up the Green Book rules and the welcome spending announcements in early June would suggest that she has indeed done this, but here in the North we still need to be vigilant to ensure that there is no backsliding.
View from Newcastle Public Transport Users’ Group
I asked Alistair Ford from Newcastle Public Transport Users’ Group for his reaction to the news about the money the North has lost:
“These latest findings confirm what we have known for a long time: that the North East of England, and other regions in the UK, lag far behind when it comes to transport investment. Our politicians have had to fight tooth and nail for small sums of money to upgrade our ageing Metro trains, to repair our rusting Tyne Bridge, or to develop small sections of cycling infrastructure. We can see first-hand the impacts this lack of investment has had on the reliability, accessibility, and affordability of our public transport. We hope the Labour government will see the enormous social, economic, and environmental value of investing in transport infrastructure and begin to genuinely level-up, so we can all enjoy a London-style modern, integrated, and efficient public transport system.”
Comment
Following Reeves’s spending announcement for the North, there must be no return to the days of the Green Book and the utterly unfair spending regime that existed between 2013 and 2023. Even better, the North should be perhaps given preferential treatment, until the disadvantage caused by the £140 billion shortfall is compensated for. This could include the kind of plans put forward by IPPR North, and include high-speed rail across the north, extended tram and metro systems and better bus services. This would help to give us the just transition to a low-carbon economy we need and deserve.
The carriage on the way to Blaydon in the song from 1862, might have lost a wheel, but 160 years later, it is surely time we had a first-class public transport system in the North.
