Shed,
You seem to have missed my point.
This principle would also work for construction of a new transpennine motorway running westwards from Sheffield, a new-build railway terminus to replace the horribly-constrained Liverpool Lime Street, and of course the "indefinitely paused" Transpennine rail upgrades. But there is no sign of these getting funded.
Yes it would, but for whatever reason the money is not forthcoming from investors. Maybe it is just not as good an investment as others such as LHR.
Aha ... so you actually believe that an extended LHR will suck business away from regional airports (although you phrase it in disparaging terms). Well that would be great for regional economies, wouldn't it? Is that an example of 'trickleup'?
No, I do not, quite the opposite in fact. I do however believe it will create more short haul flights from the regions and we will not be seeing A380's at Humberside any time soon.
Remember that all your arguments about major infrastructure projects creating employment opportunities and wealth across a wider spectrum apply equally to initiatives located in the regions. The difference is that they've been waiting 30 years (and counting) for their turn.
I will say it again, I am not opposed to any projects being built in the regions and would welcome all of them. If the money is coming in from abroad, improving our infrastructure and creating jobs then it's all good to me.
There is a huge amount of cash worldwide looking to be invested and I would say that the people hoping for these northern projects to come to fruition would do better promoting them to investors and making a viable business case rather than bleating about the unfairness of more money going into the capital.