North needs turbocharging

Time for Ministers to act at last

A RECORD rise in redundancies provides the stark backdrop to today’s Parliamentary debate on ‘ levelling up’ and how Ministerial rhetoric is not being matched by deeds. There will be a strong focus on South Yorkshire – it is perplexing that Ministers have vetoed a new, and potentially economically gamechanging, rail link to Doncaster Sheffield Airport.

But The Yorkshire Post will be looking for evidence that the Covid- 19 pandemic has made the Northern Powerhouse and ‘ levelling up’ programmes even more urgent; the- promised rewriting of Treasury ‘ green book’ spending rules on infrastructure a defining test still to be passed.

However progress will remain patchy until the London Government commits to a dedicated unit to co- ordinate policy prior to opening a fully fledged Whitehall department in the North ( as previously promised). Only last month a journalist from this newspaper spent hours telephoning Whitehall and asking to be put through to Northern Powerhouse officials only to be told that they did not exist – a very discouraging response.

There also needs to be recognition that it was a mistake to demote the Cabinet status of the Northern Powerhouse Minister – and merge it with the transport brief held by Grant Shapps. Despite his enthusiasm, he continues to be pre- occupied by the Covid crisis.

And there needs to be an acceptance that ‘ levelling up’ extends beyond HS2 and improvements to trans- Pennine rail links. They’re only part of a wider programme built on skills and the development of the next generation of innovators that will only make progress with better co- ordination, enhanced Commons scrutiny and more civil servants being based in the North – and recognising the challenges and opportunities that actually exist here – rather than continuing to favour London at all costs.