Building back after Covid-19

The North needs help with jobs

TOMORROW’S ANNIVERSARY of Britain going into lockdown is a moment for sombre reflection, first and foremost because of the grievous death toll inflicted by Covid-19, but also because of the economic devastation it has caused.

Hundreds of thousands have lost their jobs as businesses both large and small went bust. Inevitably, there is the grim prospect of even more redundancies and firms failing in the months ahead as government support is wound down.

The scale of the challenge that lies ahead in rebuilding the economy, and getting people back into work, is clear from today’s research from the Centre for Cities (CfC) think-tank, which sets out the extent of Britain’s jobs crisis in stark detail.

It is going to take the creation of almost 10m new private-sector jobs to reverse the damage wrought by the pandemic.

This is a credible finding, being based on what happened after the 2008 financial crash.

And it is especially worrying for the north, since the experience of that economic crisis was that London and the south-east saw the bulk of new jobs created.

This is further evidence that the Government needs to redouble its efforts to close the north-south divide that has proved so harmful to Yorkshire over the course of decades.

It would be entirely unacceptable – and grossly unfair to a generation of young people whose job prospects have been jeopardised by the pandemic – if the Government allowed a two-speed pace of recovery to develop, with the North lagging behind the more affluent south in creating work.

It should heed the CfC recommendations of investing in adult education and struggling city centres, as well as reforming business rates, and pressing on with devolving powers.

The North cannot be left behind in any economic recovery.