New report on investment shows shocking bias towards London

Mebyon Kernow has today reiterated our call for fair funding for Cornwall following a new report from the Sheffield Political Economy Research Institute.

The report shows a massive and totally unacceptable bias towards London in infrastructure investment.

Speaking on behalf of Mebyon Kernow, Cllr Andrew Long described the findings of the report as “shocking.”

In particular, he said: “This report shows that infrastructure spending by central government is disproportionately centred on London and other areas get a raw deal. There is a desperate need for a rebalancing of the United Kingdom economy away from this present concentration on London, and Mebyon Kernow is continuing to push for an Economic Fairness Act to ensure that Cornwall gets its fair share of government investment.”

Evidence within the report shows the following:

- Of the projects listed in the “National Infrastucture Pipeline,” around 42% are attributed to a single English region. Of these, more than half of the planned spending is attributable to London.
- Planned investment per head in London is £5,304.73, compared to £805.29 per head in the South West (which includes Cornwall). Other (per head) figures ranged from £413.67 in the North East to £1,946.24 in the North West.
- The figures in the report included the Trans-Pennine rail line modification in the Yorkshire and Humber region (£208 million) and the Midland rail electrification in the East Midlands region (£518 million), but these projects have been indefinitely paused by central government. In contrast, the figures for London do not include the Crossrail 2 rail network (estimated cost of £25 billion) and the expansion of Heathrow (estimated cost of £19 billion).

I will be writing more about this report in the near future, though in the meantime, the full report can be located at: speri.dept.shef.ac.uk.