Chancellor Rachel Reeves will unveil a £15.6bn five-year package today to fund tram, train and bus upgrades across eight metro mayor regions.
The move sees Reeves break with Treasury tradition by ditching the Green Book rules, long slammed for favouring the South East. A new value-for-money model will help unlock investment for areas overlooked under previous governments.
Top of the list is Greater Manchester, which gets £2.5bn to extend the Metrolink to Stockport and add new stops in Bury, Manchester and Oldham. The West Midlands lands £2.4bn for tram extensions from Birmingham to a new sports district.
Other major allocations include:
| Regional Transport Package Breakdown | |
|---|---|
| Region | Headline Projects |
| West Yorkshire – £2.1bn | Kickstart mass transit scheme by 2028; new bus stations in Bradford & Wakefield |
| South Yorkshire – £1.5bn | Tram network renewal and bus upgrades across Sheffield, Doncaster & Rotherham |
| Liverpool City Region – £1.6bn | New links to airport, Everton and Anfield; new bus fleet for Wirral and St Helens |
| North East – £1.8bn | Extend Metro to Sunderland via Washington |
| West of England – £800m | Rail upgrades and new mass transit linking Bristol, Bath & North Somerset |
| Tees Valley – £1bn | £60m platform expansion at Middlesbrough station; wider connectivity upgrades |
| East Midlands – £2bn | Road, rail and bus upgrades between Nottingham and Derby |
A £15.6bn cash injection will form a major pillar of the 11 June spending review, which the Treasury said would more than double the current £1.14bn annual transport allocation by 2029/30.
Transport secretary Heidi Alexander called it a “watershed moment” that would open up access to jobs and drive up quality of life.
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