THE north of England could have seen £140 billion more for transport if the Tory government had treated it like London, according to research published yesterday.

Independent IPPR analysis found that between 2009/10 and 2022/23, London saw transport funding per head of £1,183, compared with £592 across England, and just £486 in the north.

The figure amounts to a gap of £140bn between London and the north — dwarfing the entire capital spend of £83bn across the region since 1999/2000.

Ahead of Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s spending review tomorrow, expected to rubber-stamp a £15.6bn funding package for public transport projects across the north and midlands, IPPR North’s Marcus Johns said: “Today’s figures are concrete proof that promises made to the north over the last decade were hollow. It was a decade of deceit.

“We are 124 years on from the end of Queen Victoria’s reign, yet the north is still running on infrastructure built during her reign — while our transport chasm widens.

“Londoners absolutely deserve investment. But £1,182 per person for London and £486 for northerners? The numbers don’t lie — this isn’t right.”