AN INFLUENTIAL Commons committee dominated by northern MPs has called for transport funding to be sucked away from the South and pumped into other parts of the UK.

The all-party Transport Select Committee, in a report published today, warns of a growing "disparity" between spending in London and the South East and spending in other regions, and argues that after 2014 a larger share of cash must be sent up north in line with the Government's "regional economic and social objectives".

The report, Priorities for Investment in the Railways, welcomes the scale of the £35 billion rail investment programme for the period 2009-2014, which includes cash for a freight rail link in Southampton.

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However, the committee notes that "much of [the investment] is to be spent on increasing capacity in London, through projects such as Thameslink and Crossrail".

It states: "Projects to enhance capacity elsewhere on the network, particularly in the North, are long overdue, and the balance between investment in the South East and elsewhere needs to be realigned."

Failure to change the current formula that directs more cash where there are more passengers, and a greater forecast demand for rail services, will create a "vicious cycle of demand-led investment"

in which the "disparity" between spending in London and the South East and other regions will increase.

Just one of the transport committee's 11 members represents a constituency in the South East - David Wilshire in Spelthorne, Surrey - with the majority representing constituencies in north England.

South East Minister Jonathan Shaw said by setting "one region against another" the committee had misunderstood the nature of transport investment, which often benefited the whole country.

He cited the example of investment in freight rail in Southampton, which will help boost business in Birmingham with the same rail link.

Mr Shaw said: "It's important to remember that transport links run across all regions. To try to talk about one region against another misses the point about the importance of transport investment to the UK economy as a whole. It's not about winners and losers."

Norman Baker, the Lib Dem transport spokesman, said: "There is a need for investment in the North but there is also a need for investment in the South. It is vital at this difficult time that we continue to have rail investment in both regions."