Cuts in public spending disproportionately affecting north

The IPPR North thinktank has argued that the north of England is continuing to see bigger cuts in public spending, with spending in the north of England having fallen by £6.3 billion since 2010.

The report shows that spending in the south-east and south-west of England have seen an increase of £3.2 billion over the same time period, once again highlighting a north-south divide in how the government is spending its money.

Despite some progress in the north, including advanced manufacturing, energy and health innovation, the thinktank found that spending per head in London has increased by twice as much (£326) as spending in the north (£146) since the Northern Powerhouse initiative was first launched by the then Chancellor George Osbourne in 2014.

Andy Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester, has called on ministers to place northern England at ‘the front of the queue for public investment’, echoing the thoughts of the report;’s author, Like Raikes, who claimed that ‘Westminster’s Brexit chaos’ has ‘de-prioritised the Northern Powerhouse agenda at the very time it is needed most’.

He warned: “All our regional economies face severe challenges – including London’s. Brexit threatens to make this much worse and the northern powerhouse agenda is the best chance we have of fixing this national economic crisis. In the national interest, the north needs to thrive.”