Enough to build seven Elizabeth lines.
After over a decade of broken promises, the vast gulf in investment between the North and South of England has been laid bare. New analysis from the think tanks IPPR North and IPPR reveals that if the North had received the same level of transport investment per person as London since 2009/10, it would have seen an additional £140 billion, enough to build seven Elizabeth Lines.
According to Treasury figures, between 2009/10 and 2022/23, London received £1,183 of transport investment per person each year. In contrast, the North received just £486. The disparity is even more stark across regions: the North East got £430, the North West £540, and Yorkshire and the Humber £441. The Midlands fared even worse, with just £455 per person, and the East Midlands receiving the least of all UK nations and regions, only £355 per person.
That £140 billion funding gap is more than the entire capital investment on Northern transport since the start of the millennium. IPPR North estimates that just £83 billion has been spent on transport infrastructure in the North from 1999/2000 to 2022/23, making the missed investment even more staggering.
In response, IPPR North and IPPR have joined forces with former Goldman Sachs chief economist and treasury minister, Lord Jim O’Neill, calling for urgent, bold action. They are proposing a ‘Great Northern Rail,’ to deliver a connected rail network spanning Liverpool, Hull, Newcastle, and beyond. As well as recommending building a ‘Northern Elizabeth Line’ to unlock connectivity between cities across the UK, Lord O’Neill backs calls by Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham for more devolved welfare-related spending.
He emphasised the need for long-term thinking:
“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.”
Responding to the figures, Marcus Johns, Senior Research Fellow at IPPR North, didn’t mince his words, stating:
“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 rein – 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. This government 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.”
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