Grayling under pressure to back transport plans "that bring northern prosperity" - like HS3

Transport secretary Chris Grayling has been urged to close a spending gap between London and the North by prioritising HS3 and other plans of greater benefit to northern England.

The IPPR North wrote to Grayling to highlight that an analysis of planned spending in the national infrastructure pipeline per commuter is £4,271 in the capital compared to £802 in the North East, £740 in the North West and £629 in Yorkshire and the Humber. It called for £50bn of capital investment that would allow priorities identified for the North such as HS3 to be delivered.

"Transport for the North and the National Infrastructure Commission are now identifying clear priorities but warm responses about jam tomorrow is simply not enough," it wrote, and told the press that HS3 would benefit the North more than HS2. It also urged new forms of appraisal being developed in the North to capture wider benefits should be adopted by the Treasury.

The DfT put out a statement to say that while Grayling would respond in full, the new Government would "govern for the whole United Kingdom and the DfT was "already making the biggest investment in transport infrastructure in generations, spending £13bn across the North".