Chancellor approves funding for Greater Manchester transport upgrades

Credit: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has confirmed funding for a range of transport upgrades in Greater Manchester as part of her spending review, announced to the House of Commons yesterday afternoon.

Reeves announced that there would be an extra £750 million worth of investment for buses and confirmed that Rochdale would be among the areas to receive upgrades.

The Chancellor also confirmed that the government would plug an additional £3.5 billion into the Transpennine Route Upgrade. As part of this upgrade, the Manchester to York railway line will be fully electrified, with journey times between the two cities set to be reduced to 63-66 minutes.

There’s also been £15.6 billion in investment announced for tram and metro networks across cities and regions in the country. This includes an extension of Manchester’s Metrolink, which is now set to travel as far as Stockport as part of the plans.

What is the spending review?

The spending review sees the Chancellor figure out how much funding will be allocated to each government department over the course of a parliamentary term. This Parliament will run until the next general election, which is expected be called in 2029.

Overall, Reeves has confirmed that government spending will increase by 2.3% in real terms each year until the end of the Parliament. The NHS will see a 3% year on year increase in its funding, amounting to an extra £29 billion by 2029.

Also receiving boosts is the Housing Department, headed up by Ashton Under-Lyne MP Angela Rayner. Reeves announced that an additional £39 billion will be invested in social and affordable housing schemes across the country over the next decade.

Other departments receiving increases include the education department, with the core school budget increasing by £4.7 billion between now and 2028. Money will be used to fund school repairs, as well as free breakfast clubs and supplying all children with a parent on Universal Credit with free school meals.

The energy department will receive £8.3 billion in funding to establish ‘Great British Energy’, £13.2 billion to support the insulation of homes and £14.2 billion for a new nuclear power station, Sizewell C.

Defence spending will be increased by £11 billion by 2027, and £280 million per year will be allocated the Border Security Command, a new force tasked with tackling gang smugglers and illegal immigration. Reeves stated that government would end the use of hotels for asylum seekers by the end of this Parliament, adding that this would result in a £1 billion saving for the Home Office.

Credit: Lauren Hurley

Reeves pledged to

“renew Britain”

amid the spending review. However, not all were happy with the outcome of the announcement. Police chiefs say the 2.3% increase in Home Office funding will not be enough to meet the government’s manifesto commitments on recruitment in policing or on tackling crime.

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan admitted he was

“disappointed”

by the spending review, particularly by the Treasury’s decision not to push ahead with extensions to the Dockland’s Light Railway or the Underground’s Bakerloo Line. He also said he expects that cuts will need to be made to the Metropolitan Police.

The Shadow Chancellor, Mel Stride said that the spending review was

“not worth the paper that it is written on.”

Mr Stride added:

“The Chancellor has lost control. This is the spend now, tax later review.”

Reeves did however say that the commitments made in the spending review were possible as a result of the tax rises announced in last October’s budget, ruling out any further taxation to pay for what was announced yesterday afternoon.