Yet another example of the North South divide £280 spent per person on infrastructure in the North, but £1870 spent per person in the South over the next 5 years.
A difference of a small matter of £1590 per person, does anybody believe that a Southerner is worth £318 a year more than a Northerner?
Because I don't.
And neither do the Institute for Public Policy Research .
The government should prioritise the creation of a more ambitious high-speed rail network linking England’s northern cities to address the “stark” shortfall in investment compared with London, according to a UK think tank.
The IPPR says the chancellor, Philip Hammond, should take advantage of record low government borrowing costs to fund an ambitious new HS3 scheme. This high-speed line could connect Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds, Newcastle and other major cities, boosting economic growth across the region.
At present, the Institute for Public Policy Research says the government plans to spend just £280 per person on infrastructure projects in the north in the next five years. In contrast, London will get £1,870 per person between now and 2021.
Tom Kibasi, Director of IPPR in London, says Britain needs to urgently upgrade its transport networks to match other advanced economies, and make it easier to travel around the country. “The time it takes to travel, on hugely dated infrastructure, between our great regional cities is a national disgrace – this is just not what happens in Germany, Japan or France, with their fantastic rail links, or the United States, with its highly developed regional air travel,” Kibasi says.
Kibasi argues that Britain’s vote to leave the EU shows that regions away from London need more support. “Given the Brexit result, the north of England must urgently see growing prosperity. A proper east-west crossing would boost northern and UK growth, and must now take priority above all other major transport projects, including Crossrail 2 and HS2,” he added.
London’s figures are skewed by Crossrail – the £7bn railway line under the capital, running from Reading and Heathrow in the west to stations across Essex in the east.
Former chancellor George Osborne announced £60m to develop a plan for a new rail link between Manchester and Leeds in his March budget. Those cities are divided by the Pennines, making the 40-mile journey longer and more hassle than travellers would like.
The IPPR believe HS3 should be more ambitious to help more northern cities and to connect assets such as ports and national parks.
The yields on UK government debt, or gilts, are at record lows, meaning the UK can borrow for a decade at just 0.7% per year. Hammond has suggested he could reset the government’s fiscal policy in the autumn statement, due later this year, and some City experts expect a jump in government borrowing and spending.
David Owen, economist at investment bank Jefferies, agrees that the government should rethink its plans. “To the extent that Brexit represents a supply shock this also brings fiscal policy much more to the fore – perhaps with infrastructure bonds for infrastructure projects that the BoE ends up buying – as low gilt yields give the government more room for manoeuvre,” Owen said
