The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rachel Reeves, presented to Parliament the Governments Spending Review 2025 on Wednesday. It set out the investment plan of the government on day-to-day spending on departmental budgets until 2028-29 and until 2029-30 for capital. The headline figure is that the total departmental budget will grow by 2.3% over the period.

The key areas in the announcement included the following:

Security

Health and Public Services

Economic Growth

Reforming the State

Over the next few posts I will focus on each area, drilling down to what was announced – well, unless it changes before we get to that point. I welcome most of the announcements, it’s definitely a start and they are getting things moving.

For this post I want to focus on Transport. I believe that Infrastructure, in particular Transport, is a massive factor in economic growth. When Transport grounds to a halt, the economy grounds to a halt. Whether it’s the transportation of people or goods (products and services), the easier it flows the more productivity and money will flow.

The “Transport sector” will be part of a number of sectors which will receive up to £27.8 billion of capital investment through the National Wealth Fund – but how much directly to the Transport sector and what actually consists of the sector we shall see.

Later in June, the government will publish a 10 year infrastructure plan. They are investing in both economic and social infrastructure in order to drive growth. As part of their plan they want to drive the UK to a new approach to infrastructure, reforming institutions, removing barriers and bring stability and certainty.

Up and down the country the quality of transport is not meeting the needs of people to get around with ease, whether it’s in the North or the South. The government are going to invest in city regions across England – especially towards towns and cities in the North and Midlands. This includes £15.6 billion by 2031-32 for the elected mayor regions via Transport for City Regions (TCR) – doubling in real terms city region transport spending per year by 2029-30, compared to 2024-25.

There’s £2.3billion in Local Transport Grant for improvements, such as bus lanes, cycles and congestion improvements – this is away from the areas in the TCR.

London will receive the largest multi-year settlement – £2.2 billion of funding between 2026-27 and 2029-30.

My Opinion: Whilst investment in transport should be welcome, the concentration of investment on the North and Midlands, especially just to the cities and towns, is very worrying. The Southwest and any countryside community across the country, are normally one of the poorest parts of the country and has bad transport links. To get economic growth to these areas, the government should be ploughing more money for transport into those areas. It is hard to make the argument that areas with established public transport links to get more money, when other areas with a lack of transport don’t have any investment.

As part of the Energy Security and Climate Resilience plan or “Plan for Change”, the government is committing £2.6 billion capital investment to decarbonise transport from 2026-27 to 2029-30. £1.4 billion of which is to support the uptake of electric vehicles (including vans and HGVs) and £400million to support the charging infrastructure.

The government will also fund research into unlocking innovation and support technologies to further transport decarbonisation.

My Opinion: This is very welcomed. As we move towards more alternative powered vehicles, it is important that the country is prepared to be able to function and prosper without any downfall. Many politicians and people out there believe that a move away from fossil fuels is a bad thing that will risk our livelihoods, but it really will not – as long as we do it right. We need to build the infrastructure for electric cars. Whether you believe in climate change or not, fossil fuels are a finite resource – at some point it will run out. If we don’t move away from them it’ll badly impact our economy when they run out – let alone the potential effects of climate change.

The further investment to support vans and HGVs is a massive green light. Away from the headline grabbing comments and arguments in Westminster, companies up and down the country are moving towards how to make their products have less of an impact on the environment and Transport is a massive part of that. Van and haulage companies are investing in these alternative fuelled vehicles, not just to help the environment but for them to stay competitive. They want to impress their customers. So any investment to help with the development of these vehicles will be a massive boost to the economy.

Headline figures for everyday travel:

• £24 billion between 2026-27 & 2029-30 to maintain and improve motorways and local roads.
• £750 million per year to maintain and improve bus services.
• £3 bus fare cap extended until March 2027.

£10.2 billion rail enhancements including:

• £3.5 billion to drive delivery of TransPennine Route upgrade, delivered by early 2030s.
• £2.5 billion to deliver East-West Rail (Oxford-Cambridge Corridor).
• £300 million for rail investment in Wales.
• £240 million to enhance Leeds Station
• Funding to progress Midlands Rail Hub West.

My Opinion: These announcements are very good, just worried regarding how the communities outside of the town and cities of the Midlands and North and London are advantaged. Ultimately the best way to grow the economy is to take everyone, not just make the better areas even better.

The government had to get things moving and they are. I think we all know they can go further, but it’s a start. This is the start of our infrastructure becoming more robust and help with the economic growth.

It will be interesting to see what’s in the 10 year infrastructure plan.