Boris Johnson to rip up public spending rules in cash boost for North and Midlands

Boris Johnson is looking at ripping up spending rules to divert cash to the north as the Conservative seek to repay voters who deserted Labour at the ballot box.

Ahead of the spring Budget, Treasury officials are understood to be drawing up plans to rewrite how the government calculates value for money, in order to shift spending away from London.

The move comes as Mr Johnson attempts to hold onto voters in Labour’s traditional heartlands in the north and the midlands who handed him a landslide election victory earlier this month.

Under the plans, investment decisions for transport, infrastructure and business would evaluate improving people’s wellbeing or narrowing the productivity gap with the south rather than overall national economic growth.

It could help boost investment in infrastructure, business development projects and schemes like free ports.