Whatever the final outcome of Brexit, one thing is clear: The British economy needs to be firing on all cylinders.
Yet for too long, we have relied on the single engine of Greater London. As a result, our country is badly lopsided, with too much power, wealth and opportunity centred in and around our over-heating capital.
We need a rethink and to me the solution is obvious: redistribute and rebalance.
This is what the Northern Powerhouse is supposed to be about. The ‘agglomerative effect’ of linking together the main Northern cities of Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield (with an equivalent population to London) will provide a vital second engine to our national economy.
But we need fuel in our tank - not endless political promises - to make it happen. Unfortunately, this is where we have a problem.
The thinktank IPPR North has calculated that London will receive £4,155 per person in transport funding next year, compared to £1,600 in the North - almost 2.6 times higher.
Over the past decade, the figures are even starker. If the North and London had received the same amount of transport investment, per capita, the region would have benefited from £63bn more in transport investment. In 2016-17 alone saw London receive £9 billion more than the North. Mind the gap, indeed!!
This is manifestly unfair, especially as we are not in competition here. A strong Northern economy - built on solid transport infrastructure - is good for London too. We desperately need to see a rebalancing for everyone’s sake.
As the capital wrestles with all the economic and social problems of an overheated housing market and chronic congestion, the North of England is latent with potential. We can do so much more to help the national economy, but we need the investment in our transport connectivity to catalyse this renaissance. Both HS2 and HS3 are vital in this regard.
The point of HS2 is not only to speed up journey times. That is a by-product. The real reason is to provide much-needed extra capacity it adds to our rail network, building the first north-south rail line since Victorian times.
It’s the same with HS3. Travelling across the north of England currently involves a grisly Hobson’s choice between slow, congested trains, a jam-packed M62 and A-roads snaking through the Peak District. Although first railway line in the world was between Manchester and Liverpool, journey times take as long today as they did when Stephenson’s Rocket was rattling along the line.
So it’s crunch time.
Brexit - and all the uncertainty it brings - looms over us. Austerity still casts a pall over our economy. The Government’s supply of fudge has all been used up. It’s time we had a substantial commitment from ministers that they will provide the investment we need - which we all agree would have a massive catalytic effect for the whole country.
Pushing ahead with HS3 - or connecting Liverpool to the proposed HS2 line (it’s currently due to stop at Crewe), would be completely transformational, driving growth, insulating our economy from Brexit shocks, strengthening trade routes and creating hundreds of thousands of jobs.
Let the North shape its own destiny and help take pressure off Greater London in the process. Give us a fair share of transport investment and watch the North bloom.