BRADFORD will not be "fobbed off" with crumbs from the transport budget according to MP Judith Cummins.

The Bradford South MP hit out at Government plans for a multi-million pound bailout of the East Coast rail franchise during a debate in the House of Commons yesterday.

Mrs Cummins said the money would be better spent on modernising ageing transport infrastructure, which she said is holding places like Bradford back.

She added: “These figures are not acceptable and have far reaching consequences for the economy of the North of England and the prosperity of my constituents.

“The north gets trees planted along the M62 while London gets Crossrail. Hardly fair.”

Mrs Cummins said the north gets a "raw deal" over transport funding, with spending on infrastructure in Yorkshire and Humber region at £726 per person over the next four years, in comparison to £1,083 per person in London and the south east.

“What’s more, my constituents also have the pain of the 3.4 per cent increase in fares this year – with average fares rising more than three times faster than wages,” Mrs Cummins said.

“A slap in the face, and in the pocket, on top of years of insult from unfair under investment.”

In the five years to 2015/16, the government spent twice as much on public transport in London and the south east than on transport in the north - £42.6 billion compared to £21.5 billion.

Mrs Cummins said an investment in the north, with a Northern Powerhouse Rail stop in Bradford, could boost the local economy by £53 million a year and £1.3 billion for the region as a whole.

She said: “A radical rethink is needed from this Government – to end the failed franchise model, to bring our railways back into public ownership and to invest properly in transport in the north of England.

“We in Bradford will not be fooled, satisfied, or fobbed off, with the crumbs from the table.”