Following the decision to scrap the northern leg of HS2, Rishi Sunak has announced that the £4.7 billion that has been earmarked for the north will now put into local transport schemes.

In an interview with BBC Radio York, Mr Sunak said: “We could have carried on with a project that was going to cost well over £100 billion, take decades and have a very specific set of benefits, whereas I made a different decision.

“I said ‘I’m going to take that money, and instead I’m going to give it to local areas to spend on their local transport priorities’.

“And that’s already started to happen. So local authorities have already got money at the end of last year for more road resurfacing and potholes. They’re going to get more of that this year. We’ve already capped bus fares at £2.”

Mr Sunak said these plans are already benefiting people and will be “transformative” in his efforts to improve the connectivity of the North.