The Government's progress with Levelling-up

Reported this morning on Today (R4 7:22) were figures from the ONS about how different regions in the UK are recovering from the pandemic.

The recovery has been strongest in London at 2.3% as opposed to recovery in the North East at 1.2%. The Director of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership* took this back further rather than looking at just one quarter and pointed out that although the North East did go down by 1.2% in the third quarter of last year it had gone up by 6.9 in the previous quarter. He added that, if you go back to the start of the pandemic London has recovered the fastest, followed by Wales and that those are the only two areas of the UK above where we started in Q4 2019.

This shows that, as it has been for decades, London is getting more productive with the rest of the UK still lagging. The Director pointed out that the drivers for this are very clear. They are Education, Skills, and Transport and those are the key areas holding back the North of England. What should be at the heart of "Leveling up" are those key economic drivers.

The government's key announcements have been for Newcastle - repainting the Tyne Bridge. Previously the Leveling-up Fund paid for the building of a new swimming pool. These things are things everybody should expect. He felt we need the longer-term investments in the drivers he had identified. He felt the Treasury and Michael Gove's department should "get more serious". His comments suggested that while Michael Gove saw this as a long-term need, too many Cabinet Ministers just look at it as a way to get colleagues in marginal seats re-elected.

He pointed out that the money coming from the Shared Prosperity Fund was less than was coming from the Government and the EU previously. This is not a strong signal that the Government is committed. If they are committed to Leveling Up, the Treasury needs to spend the money, not cut back as we have seen them do with HS2. Long-term commitments matter.

[*The Northern Powerhouse Partnership's funding is drawn from several sources including the UK Government, the European Investment Bank, the British Business Bank and the European Regional Development Fund.]