Rachel Reeves to announce billions of transport spending
Rachel Reeves will announce plans today to pour billions of pounds into transport in the North and the Midlands.
Ahead of next week’s Spending Review, the Chancellor will confirm £15.6 billion of funding for local transport projects to overhaul creaking transport systems outside of London.
Mayors are expected to get cash to extend the metros in Tyne and Wear, Greater Manchester and the West Midlands, along with a renewed tram network in South Yorkshire and a new mass transit system in West Yorkshire.
In a speech in Greater Manchester, Ms Reeves is expected to say that “a Britain that is better off cannot rely on a handful of places forging ahead of the rest of the country”.
She will warn that the “result of such thinking has been growth created in too few places, felt by too few people and wide gaps between regions, and between our cities and towns”.
The Chancellor is expected to rip up Treasury spending rules to reprioritise investment outside of London and the South East – allowing her to splash tens of billions of pounds on road, rail and green energy projects.
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