Title

WHITEHALL

Budget 2016: Government 'redoubles efforts to make Britain fit for future'

Chancellor George Osborne has announced funding for major transport infrastructure projects in the north of England and given a commitment to part-fund Crossrail 2.

Chancellor George Osborne has announced funding for major transport infrastructure projects in the north of England and given a commitment to part-fund Crossrail 2. 

In his Budget, which he described as ‘pro-infrastructure,' Mr Osborne announced both substantive funding for new road and rail schemes and development funding for possible future schemes.

Mr Osborne thanked Lord Adonis for his work as chair of the National Infrastructure Committee, which he said had made a ‘strong start'.

The Government will allocate £60m to develop options for High Speed 3 between Leeds and Manchester, as well as options for improving other major city rail links.

It will also provide £80m, which it said, ‘together with a contribution from London, will allow Crossrail 2 to proceed'. 

Mr Osborne has allocated of £16m funding to improve rail station facilities and will detail how £50m from the Pothole Action Fund will be allocated across England in 2016/17. 

He said the Budget invested in infrastructure and would ‘redouble our efforts to make Britain fit for the future'.

WHITEHALL

Budget: Council tax surcharge to 'support funding for local government services'

By Dan Peters | 26 November 2025

Revenue from the high value council tax surcharge will be used to ‘support funding for local government services’, Budget documents have confirmed.

WHITEHALL

Budget: Government to fund SEND

By Heather Jameson | 26 November 2025

Government will fully fund Special Educational Needs and Disabilities from 2028-29, cutting one of the biggest financial pressures on councils.

WHITEHALL

If devolution is about identity, culture must be in the script

By Stephen Crocker | 24 November 2025

Culture must be part of the devolution playbook if the new Norfolk & Suffolk Combined Authority is to go the distance, argues Stephen Crocker.

WHITEHALL

The National Housing Bank: Will it help councils build?

By Jack Shaw | 21 November 2025

The question of whether the National Housing Bank becomes a central plank of housebuilding and renewal or a missed opportunity will depend on the choices the...

Popular articles by Chris Ames