Call to stop ‘neglect’ of the North

Region hit hard by austerity, report says. Now Mayor wants billions of investment.

THE GOVERNMENT is being urged to live up to promises made a decade ago of helping society’s most vulnerable – as a report revealed how the North has been disproportionately affected by austerity since then.

All three northern regions have seen rises in the “hidden homeless” over the past decade, according to findings published yesterday by think-tank IPPR North. Also, more than half of households in temporary accommodation included children.

It comes exactly ten years since then-Chancellor George Osborne’s emergency Budget, in which he vowed to “protect the most vulnerable in our society”.

Sheffield City Region Mayor Dan Jarvis has now written to Chancellor Rishi Sunak, demanding concrete plans for “levelling up” the economy.

Council spending has fallen by £315 per person in Yorkshire & the Humber compared to the £279 average drop across England, according to yesterday’s report.

Meanwhile, the three northern regions have seen rises in the “hidden homeless”, with 5,165 households in temporary accommodation last year.

The number of children living in temporary accommodation in the North has risen from 1,840 to 5,635 over the past decade.

Children with special educational needs in the North have also been adversely affected, with spending on them cut by a third over the past six years.

Spending per pupil through the ‘High Needs Block’ is now £17,003 per pupil in northern England, compared to £25,409 in 2013/14. In comparison, across

England the fall was 29 per cent and is now at £17,737.

On June 22, 2010, Mr Osborne stressed in his Budget speech that “we are all in this together”. However, IPPR North’s report also revealed that median weekly pay in northern England has grown by less than two per cent since 2009, while public sector employment in the region fell by 19 per cent.

Workers in Yorkshire and the Humber on average earn £38 less per week than the average earners in England, IPPR North research claims.

Mr Jarvis wrote to Mr Sunak to say billions of investment would be needed to soften the economic blow from the Covid-19 pandemic. He said: “The North has suffered badly from Covid. But even before the pandemic, our potential was being squandered. This neglect has been an act of national self-harm that has hurt the whole country, not just us. It is past time to stop this waste.” In February, the UK2070 Commission recommended that the Government should commit an extra £200bn over the next two decades to tackle inequality.

Prior to this, research by Transport for the North claimed that re-balancing the books would see the Northern economy £97bn larger than it would have been by 2050.

Local Government Minister Simon Clarke MP said councils were being given an “unprecedented” package of support, including £3.2 billion of emergency funding during the coronavirus pandemic – with the North receiving the “highest level of funding per-person compared to the rest of the country”.

Even before the pandemic, our potential was being squandered.

Sheffield City Region Mayor Dan Jarvis on the impact of austerity on the North