Don’t overlook us in the rush north
BOTH candidates in the Conservative leadership contest have vowed to close the north-south divide.
And Labour is also committed to backing the north of England. Just last week, Shadow Chancellor John McDonnell revealed plans to move some functions of the Treasury to a new office in the north of England.
But the economic divide in this country isn’t really between the north and the south.
It’s between London and the South East on one hand and the rest of the country on the other.
Birmingham and the West Midlands need to ensure they are not ignored as top politicians scramble to demonstrate who loves the North the most. It wouldn’t do to exaggerate the problem.
Both Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt, the two contenders for the Conservative leadership, have stressed their commitment to building the Northern Powerhouse Rail network, a £39 billion scheme
which includes, among other things, a new line between Manchester and Leeds.
But they also say they are supporting the West Midlands. Mr Johnson said last week: “I want to give the whole of the West Midlands the type of mass transit connections that make London so successful – and to help West Midlands Mayor Andy Street with his visionary agenda.”
Mr Johnson has previously been critical of the HS2 high speed rail line, which is due to come to Birmingham. But he’s now announced plans to review the project – which looks very much like a mechanism for making a U-turn.
Meanwhile, Mr Hunt is a vocal supporter of HS2.
Labour, also, say they have plans to support the Midlands.
Mr McDonnell may be planning to bring the Treasury to the North, but he says a new National Investment Bank, with £250 billion to lend to businesses over 10 years, will be based in Birmingham.
Of course, it remains to be seen whether all these promises will be kept. But when the politicians make promises, they are at least including our region in them.
Despite this, anyone who’s been following the Tory leadership contest closely will have noticed a particular focus on the North.
That’s partly because local newspapers in the north of England launched a high-profile campaign called Power Up the North, demanding a fairer deal.
It’s been featured in national news broadcasts and televised interviews with the candidates, and it’s come up as an issue in the hustings events which candidates have attended across the country.
But it’s not just the North that needs support. Consider a recent report by Lord Heseltine, the former Deputy Prime Minister, commissioned by regional mayors across England.
It reports that economic output (known as GVA) in the West Midlands combined authority area was £23,006 per person in 2017.
That’s a lot less than in the Greater London area, where it was £48,857.
And this is roughly in line with the North of England.
In fact, we may be a little poorer than parts of the North – although that wealth gap is insignificant compared to the gap between London and the rest of the country.
Then there’s the UK 2070 Commission report into regional inequalities, chaired by Lord Kerslake, former head of the civil service.
He states in the report’s introduction: “The uncomfortable reality is that despite the government initiatives that have been taken, the economic disparities, particularly between London and the wider south east and the rest of the UK, have grown.”
The report warns that more than half of all new jobs will go to London and the wider south east, with the rest of the country competing for what’s left, if nothing changes.
And it says: “Despite successive government policies for cities and regions, the economic gap in particular between London and the wider south east and the rest of the UK has grown.
“Without fundamental change in policy, this gap is expected to widen.”
The report certainly warns of a divide, but it would be wrong to call it a divide between the North and the South.
Then there was the Social Mobility Commission State of the Nation report, which warned the best hope of getting a good job for people in many parts of the country was to move to London.
Anyone who’s been following the Tory leadership contest will have noticed a particular focus on the North.
These studies suggest that the concept of a North-South divide has the potential to be misleading. The Midlands (and Wales, the Westcountry and to some extent East Anglia) are in the same situation as the north.
Of course, that doesn’t alter the fact that the North of England needs investment. It just means that the North is not alone.