I have today sent a letter to the Chancellor asking him to set aside £100billion to transform northern England’s rail and road network. The letter has been signed by more than 80 MPs and Peers. We are asking the Chancellor to use his budget to commit £24 billion of funding for the high speed Nothern Powerhouse Rail scheme (NPR), which would equate to £200 million a year and bring forward the target completion date to coincide with the planned arrival of the HS2 line to Leeds and Manchester in 2032. The fact is that there is far too great a disparity between what is spent in the South compared with the North (for every £100 spent per Londoner last year, only £35 spent per person in Yorkshire and the Humber) and this extra funding would neean that the NPR could proceed at the same time as the Crossrail 2 scheme in London. I believe this would transform the North and give young people opportunities for further education and job that they can only dream of today as well as stimulating significant growth for the whole of the UK .