Shabana Mahmood MP, Labour’s shadow Treasury Minister, commenting on the launch of the One North report and ahead of a speech by George Osborne, said:

“We welcome this report and the city regions of the North of England working together to plan strategically to deliver the growth and jobs we need.

"But only Labour will properly back our city and county regions with ambitious plans to devolve more funding and economic power to them.

"George Osborne will be judged on his actions, not his words. He is failing to back the Heseltine report or Labour’s plans to devolve billions of pounds of funding. Infrastructure output has fallen by over 12 per cent since 2010. And the Chancellor has refused to back our proposal for an independent infrastructure commission to end the dither and delay on long-term decisions.”