George Osborne’s £13bn ‘northern powerhouse’ fund includes routine
council spending on potholes
Embarrassment
for government as it confirms only £5bn of announced £13bn funding is allocated
for major road schemes and £3bn for rail £5bn of
the claimed £13bn fund is made up of the standard allocations to local councils
for road maintenance and traffic schemes.
Daniel Boffey Policy editor
Sunday 5 July 2015
George Osborne’s pledge to build a “northern
powerhouse” has been condemned as “cynical pre-election spin” as it emerged
that the £13bn committed to build it includes routine spending on potholes and
maintenance for the A1, which comes out of London.
In further embarrassment, a communities minister
was also accused of misleading parliament over the money after he claimed to
MPs in the Commons last week that the government was “investing £13bn in rail in the north” for “more trains, newer trains and more regular
journeys”. A spokesman for the Department for Communities and Local Government
(DCLG) has now confirmed that the money is not just for rail.
Before the general election, the chancellor made
much of his intention to “make the cities of the north a powerhouse for our
economy again – with new transport and science and powerful city governance”,
in what was seen as an attempt to steal votes from Labour in its strongholds
and in tight marginals such as Crewe.
In a press release in March, the Treasury claimed: “To make the northern
powerhouse a reality, the government has already committed to … £13bn of investment
in transport in the north of England”. In parliament last week, communities
minister James Wharton said: “This government is investing £13bn in rail in the
north. There will be more trains, newer trains and more regular journeys.”
It has now emerged, however, that only £3bn of that
money is for rail schemes – of which £1.35bn had already been allocated, mainly
to upgrades in and around Manchester.
Only £5bn of the remaining £10bn is for major road
schemes, including the improvements to the A1. And the remaining £5bn is made
up of the standard allocations to local councils through the “Integrated Transport Block Capital Grant” for projects such as bus
lanes, cycle lanes, and traffic-calming and “local highways maintenance”,
including filling in potholes.
The outstanding £1.65bn for rail works out at £330m
a year until 2020, for all of the north-east, Yorkshire and the north-west.
Local politicians claim such amounts will prove too little to make any major
infrastructure improvements.
Andy Burnham, the MP for Leigh in Greater
Manchester and the frontrunner in the Labour leadership contest, called for an
apology from the DCLG for misleading MPs. He said: “David Cameron must look at
whether ministers have knowingly misled the Commons. George Osborne’s
much-vaunted northern powerhouse has been exposed for what it is: cynical,
pre-election spin. It is getting the same from the Tories that it’s always had:
a northern powercut.
“If Osborne’s commitment to the north is to have
any credibility, he must put his money where his mouth is and listen to
long-suffering rail passengers. As Labour leader, I will devolve power to local
communities and put them in the driving seat of transport planning.”
The latest embarrassment over the northern
powerhouse claim follows the announcement that the government had shelved
promised and vital upgrades to major rail lines in the Midlands and the north
of England, just weeks after the election in which the Conservatives campaigned
on rebalancing the country. Critics claimed that the government knew that those
plans, central to the northern powerhouse vision, would have to be shelved a
long time before the general election but had avoided announcing it for fear of
losing votes.
A DCLG spokesman said: “The northern powerhouse is
part of the government’s long-term economic plan to rebalance growth across the
regions and nations of the UK.
“The northern powerhouse is more than transport
investment. Government has committed to invest in science and technology,
transport, digital and innovation, culture and tourism across the region.
Alongside devolving power, this gives the north a powerful new voice.”
