Boris Johnson's insistence that Government investment in transport be further focused on the capital, at the cost of Yorkshire and Humber and the other regions, is dangerous for the economy Metro Chairman Cllr James Lewis said today.

"Rather than supplying the 'locomotive' of the UK economy, as Mr Johnson claims, London is in danger of blowing a valve and jeopardising the recovery," warned Cllr Lewis in response to the London Mayor's speech today.

Regional equity

"Concentrating investment in infrastructure to support the future of the UK's economy around one over-heated and over-crowded corner of the country does not make sense and is unsustainable," he said. "Transport Minister Philip Hammond has said himself that investment needs to be 'overlaid with a view about regional equity,"

"We have never disputed that, as the capital, London is a special case but Government transport investment in our region last year stood at £272 per head compared with £802 per head in London equating to an annual difference of £1.35bn.

"It is time for the legacy of underspending by successive governments to be redressed.

Bids submitted

"Final bids have been submitted to the Department for Transport for the planned trolleybus network, new rail stations at Kirkstall Forge and Apperley Bridge and much-needed repairs to the Leeds inner Ring Road," continued Cllr Lewis.

"These schemes will support the creation of private sector jobs that will be filled by people from across West Yorkshire and beyond, helping to deliver the Government's objective of rebalancing the economy.

"Boris Johnson was right in his speech today when he said that the world's future lay in cities, but it's in cities which still have the capacity for growth, like Leeds, Bradford and Wakefield and towns like Halifax and Huddersfield and what we now need is the investment to make that growth possible."

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In his speech today Mr Johnson urged the Government not to scrap spending projects in the capital insisting that London could drive Britain's economic recovery if transport investment continues.