SW is backing itself to deliver levelling up agenda – others must too

BEFORE coronavirus came and changed the world forever, one of the buzz phrases in Boris Johnson’s new Government was ‘levelling up.’ The Prime Minister had pledged that he would lead a ‘levelling up’ of prosperity across the UK. Alongside pledges to ‘build back better’ the levelling up agenda is still on the cards. Recent reports suggested that the Prime Minister is planning to reinstate Tony Blair’s old Delivery Unit at 10 Downing Street in a bid to keep the levelling up agenda on track. The ambition chimes nicely with the aspirations of the South West, which ever since the EU referendum has been urging the Government to back the region. Calls for this support have been led by this newspaper’s Back The Great South West campaign, which was co-founded in 2016 with Pennon – the owners of South West Water.

In the Great South West prospectus, ‘Securing Our Future’, published in January 2020, the region set out its ambition to be the greenest economy in England and the first net exporter of green energy through its key wind, solar, geothermal and nuclear assets. Key to the momentum behind the campaign has been all sectors in the region signing up to a common agenda. This has included councils, Local Enterprise Partnerships, and crucially the private sector. The involvement of the private sector reflects today’s call from the leading UK business group the CBI.

CBI Director-General Tony Danker is today due to outline his vision for tackling long-term regional inequalities at the organisation’s Urban Revival conference.

In his address, Mr Danker says: “Governments – national or local – can build the infrastructure for urban success. More trains. More broadband. New railway stations. They control the local budgets for buses, parks, healthcare and colleges – the essential foundations upon which communities are forged.

“Yet levelling up is a vital business issue too – for businesses and by businesses. It can be a tide that raises all boats – and all businesses too. So we’re here to do the bit we as business can do; creating thriving firms, bustling high streets, local jobs, better wages. Reinforcing successful business clusters will be central to kickstarting this regional revival. This means building on distinctive local strengths to forge a clear USP for investment in towns, cities, regions and nations in all corners of the United Kingdom. Cookiecutter solutions are no solution at all if levelling up is to be a success.”

Mr Danker name-checked aerospace in the South West as an area of regional expertise alongside automotive in the West Midlands, the Holyhead Hydrogen Hub in Wales and the ‘Golden Triangle’ of research and innovation in the South East. He’s right to recognise this region for its unique opportunity. The region is soon to become a test bed for the UK’s first electric flight and home to a new fleet of smart underwater robots. There is no doubt the South West is pioneering projects that are pushing its carbon net zero vision to reality. It’s all evidence of the region backing itself, and of the need for the Government to Back The Great South West.