Challenge now on to deliver on ‘live local and prosper’ plans
IT is more than a little ironic that on a weekend when Prime Minister’s Boris Johnson’s levelling up agenda was dominating many news agendas that rail services to the South West should once again grind to a halt.
This time round it was not the fault of the fragile line that runs along the seashore at Dawlish, or the trains that can’t cope when the waves are too big. This time it was the new Hitachi trains that now run most GWR services between London and the Great South West region. Hairline cracks found on the trains sparked safety concerns which saw just about all services over the weekend suspended. Travellers were advised not to travel at all. Hitachi and GWR apologised. It was the latest in a long line of rail failures on services to the South West. Plymouth MP Luke Pollard tweeted: “When will we get a resilient railway for the South West?” It is a very good question. The South West, led by this newspaper and its Back The Great South West campaign, has been calling for significant infrastructure investment in the region for years.
The Prime Minister entertained campaign leaders at Number 10 Downing Street in the run-up to his historic election win in 2019. He applauded the campaign and promised support. Since then the region has seen the announcement of plans to make Plymouth a freeport, and news on more investment in digital infrastructure in Cornwall. Both are welcome, but these individual projects fall a long way short of support for the Great South West prospectus that aims to deliver £45 million of economic benefit and 190,000 new jobs over the next 15 years.
Today we report on new research by the CBI which shows the South West is the top region in the country for business innovation but action is desperately needed for firms to boost productivity. The report shows the region is rated as number one out of the nine English regions for business innovation, as well as for life satisfaction among its residents – aided by low levels of unemployment and deprivation, and short commuting times.
The South West, however, is only fifth out of nine English regions assessed for productivity – but is gaining ground.
The CBI said action to tackle skills gaps, attract investment and improve digital infrastructure is therefore needed to address pockets of low productivity.
In last week’s elections, Mr Johnson proved his ability to win at the polls had gone nowhere, with swathes of the country outside of
London giving up on decades of Labour support and turning blue.
All over the country people have enjoyed Government support for their businesses and jobs during the pandemic, and have been impressed by the UK’s vaccination roll-out.
Many people also like the sound of ‘levelling up’ and it chimes nicely with a countrywide dissatisfaction with London-centric Government and culture.
Yesterday’s newspapers featured news of Mr Johnson’s plan to enable people in the regions to ‘live local and prosper’ and to stop the brain drain to the cities. Now the challenge for Mr Johnson is to deliver.