Andrew Vine: Budget talk is cheap '“ show us the money and heal the North-South divide

That’s because the Chancellor, Philip Hammond, has an opportunity in his Budget to start closing the North-South divide that has been a stain on the record of every Government since Margaret Thatcher’s.

If he chooses to begin addressing the funding inequalities that mean the people of Yorkshire are effectively viewed as less deserving of resources than those of the South East, then Mrs May’s promise can be taken seriously.

But if there is only the same old lip-service paid to building a strong and flexible economy for the whole of Britain, without real action, then the Prime Minister’s words are as hollow as any other soundbite.

The shadow of Brexit falls over everything the Chancellor will say, and what should be glaringly obvious to him is that giving Yorkshire and the rest of the North a fairer deal increases the chances of Britain making a success of life outside the EU.

It might be more accurate to describe the North-South divide as a chasm, so gapingly wide does it continue to yawn.

This has been underlined by two recent statistics that are eloquent in emphasising just what a raw deal Yorkshire is getting from Government spending settlements.

The first came from the think-tank IPPR North, which looked at spending per head on current and future transport projects that have been given the go-ahead.

We’re receiving £190. In London, the figure is £1,943 per head.

What possible justification can there be for spending 10 times more on a resident of London than on somebody in Yorkshire?

We have some of the most congested roads in the country that add burdens and costs for businesses that they simply should not have to bear, and a rail system creaking under the demands placed on it.

Yet the Government’s response is to provide an insultingly low level of funding.

The second statistic is, in its way, even more shameful because it relates to care of the elderly, particularly in Yorkshire’s rural communities.

There, each elderly person requiring social care receives £279 in funding. In London, the figure is £717.

It is simply inconceivable that a frail old person in North or East Yorkshire should need less care than a counterpart in London, or that the costs of providing it are a fraction of what they are in the capital. On the contrary, the costs are more likely to be higher in the countryside because care services are more thinly spread and travelling time greater between people being looked after in their own homes.

So, again, where can the justification be? The County Councils Network, which revealed the figures, rightly condemned the funding formula that produces such a disparity as “regressive, unfair and opaque”.

Such a degree of unfairness ought to nag at the consciences of the Chancellor and Prime Minister because both have billed themselves as one-nation Conservatives. But they are not delivering one-nation funding settlements. Instead, we have a two-tier system, with the majority of resources skewed towards the already affluent south-east and the north being expected to scrape by.

Bringing the Cabinet north for an away-day to show that the regions are valued is nothing more than tokenism as long as these glaring inequalities persist.

Mr Hammond should, if he wishes to demonstrate that the Government is sincere in its intention to make the economy work for all parts of the country, use his Budget to announce a review of how funding is allocated.

It would be in the interests of the entire country if he did so, because a proper level of funding for Yorkshire – particularly on transport and infrastructure – would produce national economic benefits.

And he needs all the economic strength that the country can muster. A two-speed economy, with the North being denied the financial fuel it needs to fire on all cylinders is no good to a Britain about to embark on its most uncertain journey since the end of the Second World War.

Too much emphasis has been placed on the City in the Government’s thinking, to the detriment of the part the regions have to play in making Brexit a success.

The much-vaunted announcement of a new industrial strategy for Britain should be good news for Yorkshire and the North, but Mr Hammond needs to back the idea with hard cash.

Government sluggishness over funding to turn the Northern Powerhouse from a concept into reality does not inspire confidence that the Chancellor will deliver. He has the opportunity to be bold tomorrow, and take an historic step that is in tune with the country’s desire to head in a new direction.

It is not just fairness that demands the North-South divide is closed. Hard-headed economic sense demands it too.