Rachel Reeves will say the so-called “Oxford-Cambridge growth corridor” has “the potential to be Europe’s Silicon Valley" in a major speech she will give in Oxfordshire today.

The Chancellor will claim the region offers “huge economic potential for our nation’s growth prospects”.

It comes after cabinet ministers were ordered to ditch policies that could stand in the way of growing the economy.

As part of the delivery of what Ms Reeves will call the “Oxford-Cambridge growth corridor”, she will also touch on funding for East West Rail, a railway line that would connect the cities, as well as a new railway station in Tempsford in Bedfordshire.

She will say the cities are “two of the least affordable in the UK” and existing transport options mean that to travel between them “by train takes two-and-a-half hours” while “there is no way to commute directly from towns like Bedford and Milton Keynes to Cambridge by rail”.

“Oxford and Cambridge offer huge economic potential for our nation’s growth prospects,” she is expected to say.