Budget: Chancellor challenged by Labour to increase investment in the North

Labour will judge the success of today's Budget on whether it starts "levelling up" investment in the North of England to match spending per head in London.

Rebecca Long-Bailey, shadow business secretary, told The Guardian that an emphasis on industrial strategy was right, and the 'northern powerhouse' devolution deal was welcome, but emphasised "London still grabs the lion's share of spending". Labour highlighted that only two of the top 20 biggest projects in the Government's infrastructure pipeline were in the North of England and a report by the Institute for Public Policy Research suggested that spending on planned transport infrastructure is set to be £1,870 in London compared with £280 per person across the North.

Labour's proposed £250bn 'national transformation fund' would allow the party to start "meaningfully levelling up per-head investment," Long-Bailey claimed in the interview.

The intervention comes after the business secretary Sajid Javid called for additional borrowing for infrastructure to underpin the building of more homes, a call that reportedly the Chancellor has rejected in a Government "quarrel" over what the response to the housing crisis should be. Ahead of the Budget the Government has unveiled a £1.7bn 'Transforming Cities' fund and The Chronicle newspaper in the North East predicted that the Chancellor could in addition today give Transport for the North more cash, and also allocate spending to back plans for a 'northern powerhouse' rail network.