Regional Transport Inequality
There will be a Backbench Business debate on regional transport inequality on 11 September 2025. The debate will be opened by Catherine Atkinson MP (Lab, Derby North).
Identifiable expenditure is attributed to a specific country or region using the ‘for’ basis wherever possible, which records the regions that benefited from the spending or whom the spending was for, rather than simply the location where the spending took place (the ‘in’ basis). Where the ‘for’ basis is not possible, the ‘in’ basis is used instead.
The table below shows London had the highest total identifiable expenditure on transport in 2023/24. Northern Ireland and the North East had the lowest total, whilst the East Midlands had the lowest expenditure per head of population.
Source: HM Treasury, Country and Regional Analysis, PESA 2025 CP Chapter 10 table, 10.9 and 10.10
Funding by transport modeIn 2023/24, the transport expenditure in the UK was £46.9 billion, of which £6.1 billion was on national roads, £7.0 billion on local roads, £4.5 billion on local public transport, £27.8 billion on railways and £1.5 billion on other transport. The following table shows a regional breakdown of this funding.
Source: HM Treasury, Country and Regional Analysis, PESA 2025 CP Chapter 10 table, 10.9
Source: HM Treasury, Country and Regional Analysis, PESA 2025 CP Chapter 10 table, 10.9