Thirsk and Malton MP  Kevin Hollinrake says today’s Chancellor’s spending review has committed in cash the funding needed to narrow the North South divide which has put his constituency and other parts of Yorkshire at a disadvantage for so long.

Rishi Sunak announced a new £4 billion pound fund for ‘levelling up’ to which any local area can bid for the funding of local projects. The Chancellor also confirmed plans to launch a new infrastructure bank to be headquartered in the north of England.

Mr Hollinrake said “This is the best possible news for northern constituencies like mine. This government made levelling up a central plank of its agenda and now it has put its money where its mouth is. I have been calling for a fairer share of spending for the North, particularly in transport infrastructure and for housing since the day I was elected to Parliament and today it has been delivered. I will certainly look forward to working with my local councils to ensure that we access it for the many projects that have not seen the light of day because of a lack of funding, in particular the dualling of the A64.”

Speaking in the House after the statement Mr Hollinrake welcomed the government’s commitment to investment and, in particular, the levelling up fund and changes to the Green Book, the manual used by ministers to make investment decisions which currently favour the South. He also urged Mr Sunak to review the Housing infrastructure fund which he said also has a built in bias towards the South East.

Here are the key points from his 25-minute speech on Wednesday: Mr Sunak said the Government was providing £280 billion this year to get the country through the coronavirus crisis.

The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) is forecasting the economy will contract this year by 11.3% - the largest fall in output for more than 300 years.

The OBR expects the economy to start recovering once Covid restrictions are lifted, growing by 5.5% next year, 6.6% in 2022, then 2.3%, 1.7% and 1.8% in the following years.

In 2025, the economy will be around 3% smaller than expected in the March Budget.

The UK is forecast to borrow a total of £394 billion this year, equivalent to 19% of GDP - the highest recorded level of borrowing in peacetime history, according to Mr Sunak.

Underlying debt is forecast to be 91.9% of GDP this year and is predicted to continue rising, reaching 97.5% of GDP in 2025/26.

The OBR expects unemployment to peak at 7.5% in the second quarter of 2021 - 2.6 million people.

NHS doctors and nurses will receive a pay rise, but pay rises in the rest of the public sector will be "paused" next year.

The 2.1 million public sector workers who earn below the median wage of £24,000 will be guaranteed a pay rise of at least £250 next year, however.

The National Living Wage will increase by 2.2% to £8.91 an hour.

Total Government department spending next year will be £540 billion, with day-to-day departmental spending rising, in real terms, by 3.8%.

The overseas aid budget will be cut to 0.5% of gross national income in 2021 but Mr Sunak said the Government's "intention" was to return to 0.7% when the fiscal situation allows.

A new UK infrastructure bank - headquartered in the north of England - to finance major new projects is set to be established.

A £4 billion "levelling up" fund to finance local infrastructure improvement projects will also be created, Mr Sunak said.

The Chancellor said that through the Barnett formula, Scottish Government funding will increase by £2.4 billion and Welsh Government funding by £1.3 billion, with £0.9 billion for the Northern Ireland Executive.