Three senior backbench MPs expressed their frustration after a transport minister dodged their questions about why cash is being ploughed into the South East at the detriment of the North West.

A 90 minute debate in Westminster Hall heard how £783 of government cash is spent per head in London, compared to just £278 in the North West.

Angela Smith MP, a member of the Commons transport select committee, said that the north "has not had its fair share of the cake" and that its funding package "is less than satisfactory".

She pointed out that Northern Rail, which runs services through Lancashire, has had no new train carriages in the last five years, while commuter services in london and the south east have had 580 new carriages.

And she highlighted how 60 per cent of all peak hour arrivals carry standing passengers on Northern Rail services.

Despite concerns being voiced by a number of MPs, transport minister Chris Mole used his speech to list a series of improvements made to the rail network under the government and congratulated the train companies for a growth in passenger numbers.

Reading from a pre-prepared script, Mr Mole said: "Liverpool and Preston to London only takes a few minutes over two hours.

"Services to the North West and Scotland have also been improved.

"And there are more trains from Preston to Manchester via Bolton."

His reply was later heavily criticised by Labour MPs who spoke during the debate.

Angela Smith, the MP for Sheffield Hillsborough, said: I was disappointed that no real response was made to the disparities raised by members today about rail investment between the north and the south.

Manchester Blackley MP Graham Stringer: "I just think it is extraordinary that the government refuse to engage on the issue of disparity in investment.

"Over the next five to ten years the investment going to the South East is going to be somewhere between thirty and forty times the investment going into the northern rail system.

"And that's simply justifiable and the government will have to engage in that dialogue."

Bolton South East MP Dr Brian Iddon said: "I don't think we got a response. That was a standard civil service response."

Meanwhile, Ms Smith also used the debate to urge the government to be more ambitious with its plans to build high speed rail links.

She called for one high speed line to be built up the west coast to the North West and a second up the east coast to the North East. The two lines should then be linked with a new trans-Pennine line.

She said that such a network would represent a £10bn boost to the economy and help close the North South divide.

"The establishment of high speed links between the north and the south and the east and west will help to integrate the national economy.

"It will help to close the productivity gap between the north and the national average, which at the moment is £30bn," she said.

And she claimed that high speed rail links provide a bigger economic boost than the planned major rail improvements in London and the South East.