Call for new ‘Council of the North’
NEW REPORT CALLS FOR COMBINED AUTHORITY RUN BY CITIZENS
WITH a new Scottish referendum back on the political agenda, a “Council of the North” is needed now more than ever, it is claimed.
A report out today says the urgent need is to help the region punch its £300bn economic weight in a UK economy heavily biased towards London and Scotland.
Written by Ed Cox, director of the IPPR North think tank, it says that, post-Brexit, the North needs a voice and powers to match those in the capital and north of the border.
This includes a new platform for ordinary people, rather than politicians, to “take back control”.
He wrote of poor infrastructure, a below average research and development spend and a lower skilled workforce, which are “symptoms” of this region’s economic under-performance rather than its cause.
Mr Cox said: “As we leave the EU, city and county leaders will find themselves very small fish in a big global pond if they opt to go it alone. But, working together, the North’s £300bn economy carries real clout.
“Informal working together under the Northern Powerhouse brand has been welcome – but clear evidence shows this is no substitute for proper government and the huge progress made in the capital and Scotland since devolution.”
The IPPR North report, called Taking Back Control in the North, draws on what it describes as the latest and most thorough regional academic evidence.
The major points outlined are:
London and Scotland have benefited enormously from devolution to the extent that they are now effectively “decoupled” from the rest of the UK economy while the North has missed out.
Productivity is poorer in the North because it lacks strategic government.
Previous strategies have targeted the symptoms of regional imbalance such as a lower skills base and worse transport rather than their main cause – weak regional institutions without powers to make big decisions. The Northern economy as a whole lacks the co-ordination to work together. The report highlights how Transport for London, the Greater London Authority and other pan-London bodies helped fuel the capital’s growth over recent years, while the North lacks similar organisations. Nicola Sturgeon this week called for a second referendum, while London is set to write its own industrial strategy. Mr Cox said the North of England lacks such strategic leadership, though it has nearly three times the population of Scotland and its £300bn economy, is larger than Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland combined. Yet, he said that while Prime Minister Theresa May snubbed an invite to discuss Brexit and the North with the region’s council leaders and took six months to make the decision, the devolved authorities had meetings secured within days.
The report says progressives must engage with the populist forces sweeping the world, by giving ordinary people more power over their lives and engaging with strong local identities outside the metropolitan areas.
It proposes a Council of the North – made up of the North’s 19 combined authorities and counties – to help the North speak with a single voice, to give it more powers to invest in schemes such as HS3 and to compete together on the global stage. In contrast to the London or Welsh Assemblies, to feed the popular appetite to “take back control”, rather than creating a Parliament or Assembly with new politicians, the Council of the North would be overseen by a Northern Citizens Assembly of ordinary northerners chosen by lot, as with jury service. Mr Cox said: “A progressive renewal won’t come from Westminster, but from fresh thinking to address the global desire for people to have more control over the economy, with a distinctive northern approach to the economy that joins together our collective strengths. “A Council of the North would help boost growth and lead to better public services, while northerners – and not politicians – could find their voice through a Northern Citizens Assembly.”
City leaders will find themselves very small fish. But working together, the North’s £300bn economy carries real clout Ed Cox