The chancellor Jeremy Hunt has confirmed hopes for Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) to be completed in full have been dashed.
He committed only to ‘core’ NPR in today’s Autumn Statement, as had been rumoured in recent weeks – representing a U-turn on the Truss administration’s pledge to deliver it in full.
West Yorkshire mayor Tracy Brabin said: ‘Jeremy Hunt has taken aim at levelling up with his U-turn on Northern Powerhouse Rail in full.’
Mr Hunt said East West Rail and HS2 to Manchester would also go ahead, but failed to mention the East Midlands leg.
The chancellor also ‘recommitted’ to the gigabit broadband rollout, which aims for nationwide coverage by 2030.
The flagship projects are part of £600bn spending over five years as Mr Hunt declared infrastructure a ‘growth priority’.
He claimed he was ‘not cutting a penny from capital budgets’ in the next two years and maintaining them in cash terms for the following three years.
The chancellor told the Commons: ‘When looking for cuts, capital is sometimes seen as an easy option, but doing so limits not our budgets, but our future.’
‘Local infrastructure projects’ will be prioritised in the second round of the Levelling Up Fund, which it was confirmed will match the £1.7bn allocated to round one. Successful bids will be announced before the end of the year.
In an effort to ‘accelerate’ infrastructure projects, the Government said there would be ‘reforms to the planning system’, including updating National Policy Statements for transport, energy and water resources and ‘sector-specific interventions’.
Mr Sunak also confirmed £700m would be invested in the Sizewell C nuclear plant as part of the net zero 2050 target.
To help end what the chancellor referred to as energy supply ‘blackmail’ by Russia, he announced a ‘national ambition’ by the end of the decade to reduce energy consumption in buildings and industry by 15%.
An ‘Energy Efficiency Taskforce’ will be created to lead the charge with £6.6bn funding in the current Parliament.
From April 2025, electric cars, vans and motorcycles will begin to pay road tax in the same way as petrol and diesel vehicles.
