FILLING in potholes will count as part of “building a Northern Powerhouse” under the quirks of Government funding rules, the Telegraph & Argus can reveal.

And cash for bus and cycle lanes – and for traffic-calming – is also included in the £13bn the Chancellor has promised to turn the region into an economic stronghold.

Furious political leaders in Bradford said the revelations made a mockery of George Osborne’s pre-election promise to make the North his priority back in office.

And they warned the sum left over for fresh rail schemes – as little as £330 million a year, across the three Northern regions – was too small to fund any “game-changing” projects.

Councillor David Green, the leader of Labour-run Bradford Council, said: “This shows the claims the Government is making for the Northern Powerhouse are just lies, damned lies and statistics.

“Filling in potholes is very important, but it’s not going to drive economic growth. It’s just business as usual - not transformational, to give us the game-changers we need.”

And Imran Hussain, the Bradford East Labour MP, added: “The Government’s headline said £13bn for transport, but including money to fill in potholes means it is just smoke and mirrors.”

Back in March, Mr Osborne announced he would – if the Conservatives won the General Election – invest £13bn in better transport “to build the Northern Powerhouse”.

However, the T&A has discovered that:

* Only £3bn is for rail schemes - of which £1.35bn is already allocated, to upgrades in and around Manchester and to replace the Pacer trains.

* Only £5bn of the remaining £10bn is for major road schemes – including improvements to the M1 and M62.

* The remaining £5bn is standard allocations to local councils through the ‘Integrated Transport Block Capital Grant’ (for projects such as bus lanes, cycle lanes, and traffic-calming) and ‘local highways maintenance’ (including filling in potholes).

The outstanding £1.65bn for rail works out as £330m each year through to 2020, for all of Yorkshire, the North West and the North East.

But several hundred million will be swallowed up if TransPennine electrification - “paused” by the Government last week - eventually goes ahead.

Meanwhile, any of ten new or upgraded rail links proposed by the Transport for the North group in March would cost several billion pounds – far more than the total sum available.

A separate plan to electrify the Calder Valley line, from Bradford to Manchester, via Halifax, also lacks funding at present.

The Department for Transport (DfT) accepted the £13bn included both local transport schemes and road maintenance, but argued they were also crucial to “transforming transport in the North”.

A spokesman said: “We will boost the region’s economic growth by making great improvements to the way hard-working people get around.

“We will further transform rail services across the region with more services, more capacity and the scrapping of Pacers through the new Northern and TransPennine franchises.”

The lack of money for Northern rail schemes is certain to intensify criticism of the priority given to the HS2 high-speed project – earmarked to gobble up £4bn a year by 2020.