Public spending on transport

Transport's vital for people to access opportunities, see friends and to do business. The UK has a wide imbalance in £s spent per person. However, there are signs of this being levelled-up with the North West seeing 82% increase in spending between 2007-18.

Per capita public spending on transport is vastly unequal across the UK. Analysis for a report from the think tank IPPR North shows that the North receives almost three times less than London. Additionally, in the period from 2007-2018 London saw a bigger spending increase than the North. If the North had received the same amount of spending on transport as London during that time, it would have received an extra £66 billion.

Although London has seen a greater transport spending increase than the North as a whole over the past decade, there are signs that the imbalance is beginning to be addressed. The North West saw an 82% increase in spending between 2007 and 2018, the largest percentage increase of any region in the UK.

The report further analysed the government’s planned transport spending included in the National Infrastructure and Construction Pipeline. They found that London can expect to receive seven times more per person than Yorkshire and the Humber unless significant investment in the Northern Powerhouse is forthcoming.