The transport secretary has described a pledge by the previous government of £4.7bn for transport in north and midlands areas of England as 'fantasy money'.
The comments by Heidi Alexander in the House of Commons on Thursday are the strongest indication yet that cash uplifts pledged by the Tories following the curtailment of HS2 never existed.
As reported exclusively by Highways, last month the Department for Transport (DfT) distanced itself from the pledge of £4.7bn for north and midlands councils, stating that it was ‘under review’.
Last year, a senior DfT official made clear that councils can no longer expect a further £8bn highway maintenance funding over the next nine years under the widely-ridiculed ‘Network North’ plan, which was reportedly drawn up in a hotel room during Conservative Party Conference in October 2023.
During transport questions, Tom Gordon, Liberal Democrat MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, asked: ‘When the previous Government cancelled High Speed 2, they promised more than £4bn for projects in the north and the midlands. Do the Government still plan to deliver on that, and when should we expect to see that money in the north?’
The Tories did not in fact cancel HS2 but did cancel almost all of the second phase of the project and last February announced that north and midlands areas outside city regions would get £4.7bn for transport schemes from 2025-26 to 2031-32.
Responding to Mr Gordon, Ms Alexander said: ‘I hate to tell the hon. Gentleman this, but that was fantasy money. We are working through a pipeline of transport infrastructure projects, and will make announcements alongside the spending review.’
The Autumn Budget pledged £650m for local transport outside city regions, including funding for residual transport-related Levelling Up Fund projects.
However, the DfT has still not announced the breakdown of this between authorities and the funding stream that it represents.
In the Commons, Ms Alexander also repeated a claim by roads minister Lilian Greenwood that approval of four long-standing Major Road Network schemes under a programme set up by the Tories represented ‘getting on with delivering this Government’s Plan for Change’.
