Rishi Sunak to chair cabinet meeting in Yorkshire and the Humber

Rishi Sunak represents the constituency of Richmond in North Yorkshire

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak will chair a cabinet meeting in Yorkshire and the Humber on Monday.

Cabinet meetings usually take place in Downing Street, but Gordon Brown introduced regional meetings in 2008.

It comes as money for local transport across the north and midlands using reallocated HS2 funding is set to be announced by the transport secretary.

But Andy Burnham, the Labour mayor for Greater Manchester, cast doubt over the credibility of the latest plans.

Monday's funding announcement is worth £36bn, the spokesperson added.

Mr Sunak, who represents the constituency of Richmond in North Yorkshire, said the reallocated investment would benefit "more people, in more places, more quickly".

Called the Local Transport Fund, the money "fully empowers local people to invest in the transport priorities that matter most to them and their communities," Mr Sunak added.

"Whether it's repaired roads, or refurbished train and bus stations - it will be local leaders who decide what transport projects to invest in based on local needs."

The prime minister is expected to use the meeting to call on ministers and MPs to hold local authorities to account in ensuring the funding is used "appropriately", the spokesperson said.

Transport Secretary Mark Harper said the "unprecedented" investment would be "transformational for smaller cities, towns, and rural communities across the north and the midlands".

It had been made possible "because this government is willing to take tough decisions like reallocating funding from the second phase of HS2", he added.

The government announced it was abandoning plans for HS2 to reach Manchester last year

The decision to axe HS2 between Birmingham and Manchester, after the Leeds link was previously scrapped, was heavily criticised by northern leaders.

Mr Harper said the government was "sticking to our plan to level up communities with greater transport links right across the country".

But speaking on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Mr Burnham criticised the plans.

"Will anybody in the north of England look at this and not think they are taking us as though we are mugs?" he said.

"They just think they can keep promising us this stuff, it's just not going to work," he added, in reference to previous government promises for transport funding in the north.

Mr Burnham was among those who mocked the government for a post announcing £235m of transport funding for roads in London under the "Network North" logo.

"This money that was saved from cancelling HS2, some of it they proudly said they spent on fixing potholes in London," he said.

"They have tried it once too often."

The exact location of Monday's cabinet meeting has not been released for security reasons, a government spokesperson said.

The first cabinet meeting away from London or Chequers since 1921 was held in Birmingham in October 2008.

A month later, then Prime Minister Mr Brown took the Labour cabinet to Leeds.

In 2010 David Cameron's coalition cabinet met in Bradford for its first meeting outside London.