AN EXTRA £59 billion would have been spent on transport infrastructure across the north if investment had been at the same level it has for London over the last decade, Barnsley Central MP Dan Jarvis told the House of Commons.
Mr Jarvis revealed the shocking figure in a speech during a debate on transport in the north.
“I think we all accept that London, as our capital city, is a hub for business and tourism, and it is understandable that it will receive a significant amount of investment. But the figures show just how wide the inequality between London and the north has become.
“According to the Institute for Public Policy Research, analysis of investment over the past ten years shows that London received £680 per head on average each year while the north got just £282 per head. If the north had received the same level of funding as London, we would have had an additional £59 billion to spend in the last decade.”
Speaking to the Chronicle following his speech, he said Barnsley people would today be enjoying a better rail service and improved road links which would have led to more and better jobs.
“I think it would make a massive difference,” he said.
“This kind of infrastructure investment is what drives growth.
“If we want people to come and invest and to relocate and come and work in the north of England, we need to be able to move them around. It is much harder in the north of England than it is elsewhere in the country.”
He said with the level of investment seen in London, there would have been ample funds to improve the local rail network and add significant road links to support industry.
“Increasingly there is an awareness that insufficient investment is going into transport in the north, and there is a very basic unfairness in that.
“We’ve got to persuade the government of the day, not just this government, but the next one and the one after that, because this needs to be addressed in the long term. We need to begin to close the gap.
“If the government is serious about the Northern Powerhouse, they’ve got to be judged by their actions and not by their words, and that means greater levels of investment than we are seeing at the moment.”
Dan said he had received a lot of supportive feedback since making his speech in Parliament.
“There was a lot of concern that the transport secretary didn’t even turn up to the debate.
“But since I raised it in Parliament I’ve had a lot of people get in touch to express to me the problems they face getting to work.
“The rail service between Barnsley and Sheffield is poor. Not just the physical standard of the carriages although that is part of it - the trains are old and tired - but the frequency of the service.
“There is a lot more that needs to be done, in terms of commuting, making it easier for people to get here to work, and getting people from here to elsewhere.
“I don’t think we’re anywhere near as well served as we should be, or as well as other parts of the country currently are.”
