A new report by The Future Governance Forum (FGF) has called on the Government to change the way that its Green Book is used if it wants to increase public investment in areas outside of South East England.
‘The Green Book and getting more investment into the regions’ report by the FGF’s Chief Economist, Dan Corry (former Head of the Number 10 Policy Unit and Senior Adviser to the Prime Minister on the Economy), welcomes the review of the Green Book currently under way, but argues that it has to do more than alter the methodology used if it wants to see more public investment outside London and the South East.
The report recommends the government should:
- Do more to promote the strategic case for its investment projects outside of South East England (e.g. rail in the North) to change the way civil servants use the Green Book
- Provide a clearer policy steer to Whitehall that it wants to see more investment outside South East England to enable the Green Book to help deliver that objective.
- Consider devolving more money (such as capital budgets) to regional and local government and allow devolved areas to raise more finance themselves.
‘The Green Book and getting more investment into the regions’ report is published a month before Rachel Reeves’ review of the Green Book in January 2026.
The government’s overriding mission is to raise the rate of economic growth and importantly – to ensure that growth is felt ‘in every part of the United Kingdom’. Yet areas outside South East England do poorly in terms of securing public investment. The current state of affairs is caused to some degree by flaws in the methodology in the Treasury’s Green Book. But that is only part of the story.
Dan Corry, FGF Chief Economist, said, “We welcome the government’s review of the Green Book which is currently underway. The various reforms which have been proposed could help support more public investment going outside the South East, especially giving more weight to investments that can be transformational, but over a longer period of time. However, if the government really wants more investment going outside the South East, it needs to do more. Our report sets out clear steps the government should take to change the way the Green Book is used.
“That means the government changing the way civil servants use the Green Book by doing more to promote the strategic case for investment projects outside of the South East – and not simply comparing them to projects in the South East. The government must also provide a clear policy steer to Whitehall that it wants to see more investment outside the South East to enable the Green Book to help deliver its aim that that growth is felt ‘in every part of the United Kingdom’.”
