Let’s knuckle down to the long-overdue job of levelling up
IT WAS 19th-century statesman and novelist Benjamin Disraeli who coined the phrase “Two Nations” to describe the chasm between the rich and poor in early Victorian Britain. Despite vast progress since then, his expression still has resonance.
We live in a profoundly unbalanced nation, marked by huge gaps in prosperity, opportunity and political influence between the North and the South. According to the Institute for Fiscal Studies, “the United Kingdom is one of the most geographically unequal countries in the developed world”.
Recent studies show that incomes, productivity and GDP per capita are all 30 per cent higher in London than the North. This disparity in wealth is graphically highlighted in property values, with the average house price in the North standing at £138,000, compared to £496,000 in London.
But Boris Johnson has signalled his determination to tackle this inequality, restricting the dominance of the capital and giving a fairer deal to the regions that have been left behind for too long.
THE quest to “level up” the economy is at the centre of the Government’s programme, as emphasised by the Queen’s Speech last week which set out radical plans for skills training and investment in new technologies.
The same eagerness for change can be seen in cultural policy, where the Londoncentric obsession with a fashionable woke agenda has convulsed our civic institutions.
Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden has just announced he wants more northern representation on our public bodies, which should be “genuinely diverse and not solely governed by people from the metropolitan bubble”. At present, 50 per cent of the trustees and chairmen appointed by Dowden’s own department live in London.
There is no guarantee that the Tory Government will attain its goal. British history is littered with failed attempts at rebalancing, such as the 1934 Special Areas Act and Harold Wilson’s regional planning in the 1960s.
But this time it could be different. The political landscape is now far more favourable to a Tory northern revival, given the collapse of Labour’s red wall.
Labour has retreated into a virtue-signalling, elitist comfort zone. So the Conservatives can cement their position as the party of the working-class by addressing the needs of the North and the regions.
The economic landscape has also been transformed by two recent factors. First, Brexit opens up a host of new opportunities for innovation, trade and enterprise, as illustrated by the creation of eight freeports. Moreover, wages and training in the regional workforces should improve because, with the end of free movement, employers will no longer be able to rely on cheap imported labour.
Second, the Covid pandemic has promoted new, more flexible ways of working. In a world of Zoom, location is no longer so important for commerce.
AS LONDON’S ascendancy is challenged, the affordability of property and staff in the North can be turned to advantage. Some of the strongest business growth in recent months has been in deprived parts of the Northwest and Birmingham.
The process of levelling up can be reinforced by other measures, such as the enhancement of practical skills, especially in engineering, digital technology and design. For too
long, the British state has been fixated on sending 50 per cent of young people to university, when the nation would have benefited from a greater emphasis on vocational training.
Thankfully, that lopsided approach is being remedied through the introduction of the “lifetime skills guarantee” supported by student loans, as well as the expansion of apprenticeships and more backing for further education colleges.
Equally important is public investment. Here again the Tory government is moving beyond mere rhetoric. A Treasury hub is to be established in Darlington, creating 750 jobs, and the new National Infrastructure Bank is to be located in Leeds. Over 10 years 22,000 civil servants are to be moved out of London.
State funds will be used to improve the transport infrastructure in the North through projects such as the Trans Pennine upgrade and the reopening of the Northumberland line. There is also encouragement for new green technologies, such as a new offshore windfarm on the North-east coast with 4500 jobs.
Once the stuff of political dreams, “levelling up” could become a reality. With all regions sharing in growth and respect, Britain will no longer be two nations.
‘The economic landscape has been transformed by Brexit and Zoom’