Pressure mounts on Osborne to match Northern Powerhouse rhetoric with cash

The Chancellor comes under pressure over his 'Northern Powerhouse' this week with claims that spending on railways per head in North East England is half the national average.

Figures released by the DfT suggest that spending on railways in the North East has fallen from £59 in 2009/10 to £50 in 2013/14, the region's Chronicle newspaper reported. Anna Round, senior research fellow for the North East at IPPR North, was reported as saying that the figures were "a reminder that the Northern Powerhouse is lacking the funding it needs to fire up growth in the North".

She claimed that after the postponing of electrification schemes for northern England the November Spending Review was "the last chance to spell out the financial commitment to growing the North".

But the Department dismissed the claims, asserting that spending per head was increasing, working out to £73 per head for 2014. London apparently saw £298 per head on its rail network in 2013/14, a drop from the £386 of 2009/10.