‘ Flagship ventures not enough to end chronic regional disparities’

THE GOVERNMENT needs to provide more than just “flagship but isolated ventures” if it is to address the chronic regional inequalities that have blighted the country for decades, an expert has warned.

Euan West, senior partner for KPMG in Yorkshire, said “nothing short of a transformation programme” was needed to rebalance the country’s economic geography and that the policies announced by the Chancellor at this week’s spending review must be judged against that yardstick.

Rishi Sunak’s speech included a £ 4bn levelling- up fund which is designed to invest in local infrastructure that is deliverable within this Parliament. It will be open to all local areas in England and prioritise bids to drive growth and regeneration in places in need, those facing particular challenges and areas that have received less Government investment in recent years.

Mr West said: “A levelling- up fund, particularly one that takes a broad place- based approach, is to be welcomed, though businesses in Yorkshire will be wondering how this relates to the regional devolution agenda and leadership on the ground, in combined authorities for example, to ensure successful bids contribute to real regional economic transformation.

“More fundamentally, combining the two critical agendas of a low- carbon- focused infrastructureled economic recovery from Covid- 19 with levelling- up certainly has the potential to be a win- win plan.”

He said the changes to the Government’s Green Book which guides how investment decisions are made was “one of the most exciting proposals as it suggests an understanding of the structural nature of the change needed to really drive transformation in underperforming parts of our economy”. He added: “Addressing the chronic issue of regional economic inequality means engaging in a complicated jigsaw of interconnected investment decisions with place at its heart. Flagship but isolated ventures won’t deliver, despite their undoubted value.”