Chancellor Reeves Unveils £15.6bn Transport Investment Plan for England
In a significant move to boost England’s transport infrastructure, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced a substantial investment of £15.6bn in tram, train, and bus projects across mayoral authorities in the Midlands, the North, and the West Country. This announcement comes ahead of the government’s spending review next week, which will determine the allocation of funds to Whitehall departments over the next three to four years.
According to the BBC, Reeves has been under pressure from Labour MPs to spend money following criticism of relentless economic gloom, particularly around disability and benefit cuts, as the chancellor tries to stick to her fiscal rules in difficult circumstances.
The transport investment plan marks Reeves’ first open move away from the stringent rules in the Treasury’s Green Book, which is used by officials to calculate the value for money of major projects. The book has been criticised for favouring London and the south-east. Labour MP Jeevun Sandher, a member of the Treasury Committee, complained of its "hardwired London bias" in April.
As reported by the BBC, the investment plan includes £2.5bn for Greater Manchester to extend its tram network to Stockport and add stops in Bury, Manchester, and Oldham. The West Midlands will receive £2.4bn to extend tram services from Birmingham city centre to the new sports quarter. Additionally, £2.1bn will be allocated to start building the West Yorkshire Mass Transit programme by 2028, and construct new bus stations in Bradford and Wakefield.
Six more metro mayors will receive transport investments, including:
- £1.5bn for South Yorkshire to renew the tram network and bus services across Sheffield, Doncaster, and Rotherham by 2027
- £1.6bn for Liverpool city region with faster connections to Liverpool John Lennon Airport, Everton stadium, and Anfield, and a new bus fleet in St Helens and the Wirral next year
- £1.8bn for the North East to extend the Newcastle to Sunderland Metro via Washington
- £800m for West of England to improve rail infrastructure, provide more frequent trains between the Brabazon industrial estate in Bristol and the city centre, and develop mass transit between Bristol, Bath, South Gloucestershire, and North Somerset
- £1bn for Tees Valley, including a £60m platform extension programme for Middlesbrough station
- £2bn for the East Midlands to improve road, rail, and bus connections between Derby and Nottingham
The BBC quotes Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander as saying that the announcement "marks a watershed moment on our journey to improving transport across the North and Midlands – opening up access to jobs, growing the economy and driving up quality of life". North East Mayor Kim McGuinness described the £1.8bn funding for her area as a "game changer", while Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram said the investment was a "massive vote of confidence in our region".
However, shadow chancellor Mel Stride criticised Labour’s promises on transport, saying they "lack any serious plan". Stride stated, "They’ve betrayed pensioners, farmers, and hardworking families, all while making empty tax promises that simply don’t add up." Liberal Democrat Treasury spokeswoman Daisy Cooper warned that the chancellor must now deliver, as "these communities have heard these same promises before, only to be left with phantom transport networks".
The BBC reports that Reeves’ £15.6bn regional transport announcements are part of a five-year funding allocation from 2027/28 to 2031/32, which a Treasury spokesman confirmed would double the current £1.14bn spending allocation for 2024-25 to £2.9bn by 2029-30.
This significant investment in transport infrastructure is expected to have a positive impact on the economy, job creation, and quality of life in the regions. As the BBC notes, Reeves’ move is a significant step towards levelling up the country’s regions and addressing the economic disparities between London and the rest of England.
