TRANSPORT Secretary Lord Adonis has failed to guarantee regional transport schemes will be protected from public spending cuts. He also revealed that the Government is ready to take over any rail franchise, including the East Coast main line operator, if ministers deem it necessary.

North MPs fear the region will be left behind as multi-billion pound schemes like London’s Crossrail roar ahead in the South East.

Experts predict huge spending cuts to return Britain’s public finances to an even keel after Gordon Brown’s splurge on fighting the recession.

Manchester MP Graham Stringer, a member of the Commons transport committee, has warned of public spending being “difficult” over the next 18 months.

And he warned the regions of Britain would be “disproportionately hit” by any cuts.

“I can imagine a scenario when even the train investment is curbed if the situation gets bad. It is much likely to be the regional allocations,” he said.

And the RAC Foundation blasted the management of Britain’s road network with regional funding set by Whitehall insufficient to pay for upgrades. It accused ministers of failing to develop a national network.

Such concerns are particularly acute in the North East, where upgrades to the A1 have been knocked back because of insufficient funding for regional transport allocations.

AA president Edmund King called for “missing links” in the national road network to be filled to make the overall network much more efficient.