Is the North East being levelled up?
RESEARCH CLAIMS PUBLIC SPENDING LOWEST OF ANY REGION
POLITICIANS across Teesside have reacted to analysis which claims public spending is lower in the North than in other parts of the country.
Using the latest data from 2021, research by left-leaning think tank IPPR North found that spending in our region was significantly lower than in London despite the levelling up agenda.
Public spending in the North was £16,223 per person in 2021 – an increase of 17% since 2019 – but it was £19,231 per head in London – an increase of 25%. The England average was £16,309 per person, an increase of 20% since 2019.
The IPPR analysis found the lowest percentage increase in public spending per head between 2019 and 2021 was in the North East at 16%. There was £16,662 per head of public spending in our region in 2021. The area with the lowest total per person public spending was Yorkshire and Humber, at £15,540.
While all regions in the South had higher public spending per head than in Yorkshire and Humber, not all were higher than the North East (£16,662).
In 2021, public spending in the South East, not including London, was £15,650 per head and in the South West, it was £15,949.
IPPR North, which was founded in the 1980s by Clive Hollick who is now a Labour peer, has called for further action by the future prime minister to increase prosperity in the North.
Labour Middlesbrough MP Andy McDonald and Labour Stockton North MP Alex Cunningham have both said this analysis was proof that the Government is not delivering on the levelling up agenda in Teesside.
However, one of the region’s
prominent Conservative MPs Simon Clarke, who represents Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, has said his party is pouring hundreds of millions into the region through Teesworks, the Town’s Fund and the Future High Streets Fund.
According to IPPR North, when spending on the Covid support scheme and health were removed, the North received £11,505 per person on public spending in 2021, an increase of 2% on 2019.
The England average of £11,524 per person in 2021 marks a 3% increase while in London spending was at £13,442 per person, an 8% increase since 2019.
Mr McDonald said: “The analysis makes it crystal clear that levelling up is just another deceitful and hollow slogan trotted out by the Tories over and over again to try and convince people they are addressing the geographical and economic divisions in our country. They are not.
“They have had 12 years in power and the divisions in our country are getting wider.”
During a BBC debate on Monday night, both Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss, who are vying to be the next Conservative leader and prime minister, committed to the levelling up agenda. However, Mr Cunningham does not believe
either has a vision or plan to address regional inequalities.
He added: “Any real commitment to levelling up under the Conservatives, regardless of who replaces Johnson, is dead. That doesn’t have to be the case.
“The Conservatives might have turned their back on the North but Labour won’t. The next Labour government will give power to communities and invest to bring good jobs to every community.”
Mr Clarke, who is also the chief secretary to the Treasury, has hit back at Labour’s attacks and claimed the party did not care about the region.
He added: “When Labour was in power, with a prime minister up the road and cabinet ministers in Hartlepool and Redcar, they did nothing – literally nothing – to help Teesside.
“That’s why we’re picking up the pieces now, and that’s why we will keep doing what we’re doing.
“Everybody in Teesside knows fine well how many hundreds of millions have been poured into Teesworks, how many transformational millions we’ve spent through our Towns Fund and Future High Streets Fund.”
A number of areas across Teesside have received Towns Fund cash, these include Redcar (£25m), Thornaby (£23.9m), Hartlepool (£29m), Darlington (£22.3m), and Middlesbrough (£21.9). While the Future High Streets Fund has also meant investment in Middlesbrough (£14.2m), Stockton
(£16.5m), and Loftus (£5.8m).
Stockton South also received £20m for Preston Park and Yarm Town Hall improvements through the Levelling Up Fund. Areas across Teesside are currently bidding for the second round of grants through this fund.
Independent Middlesbrough Mayor Andy Preston said the IPPR analysis should stand as a reminder to the next prime minister that there is much work still to be done on the levelling up agenda.
He said: “These figures revealed in the IPPR report are disturbing as they show that there’s a long, long way to go if the Government wants to convince the people of Teesside and the wider north that ‘levelling up’ is far more than an election slogan.
“Better housing and making our streets safer with more police may not win the next prime minister the big headlines and there’s no doubt it will take time, intelligence and much more money. But it’s the only way that the Government can truly level up people who are most in need in Middlesbrough and towns across the North like ours.”
A Government spokesperson said: “We do not recognise these figures and are pressing full steam ahead with levelling up the North. We are transforming the rail network with £96bn investment to deliver faster and more reliable journeys, creating thousands of jobs with freeports in Teesside and the Humber, and supporting projects that improve everyday life with our £4.8bn Levelling Up Fund.”
Any real commitment to levelling up, regardless of
who replaces Johnson, is dead. That doesn’t have to
be the case.
Andy McDonald