Disgraceful lack of progress in levelling up

Dr Peter Williams, Newbiggin, Malton.

In 2019, ‘levelling up’ was the Government’s flagship election promise. Yet almost five years later, not even 20 per cent of levelling up projects to improve towns across England have been completed. This is disgraceful.

Instead, the deprivation divide is widening. The regional economic forecast published this month by accountants Ernst Young shows that northern regions such as Yorkshire and the Humber have suffered sharper falls in economic activity and will have to wait in line behind London and the South-East in any future economic recovery.

The UK is the only major OECD country where the employment rate has not yet returned to its prepandemic level.

The London-centric neglect of the North and the lack of a national recovery plan has resulted in loss of voters’ trust in government and the violence and unrest about which Rishi Sunak claims to be concerned. This is despite the fact he was instrumental in allowing such a hostile environment to develop.

The report, State of the North 2024, from the Institute for Public Policy Research argues for the rebuilding of voters’ trust in four ways.

First is the need for stronger local and regional democracy. Second is equalising the tax rate on incomes from shareholding with that of working people’s wages. Third is the restoration of local authority funding – slashed in half since 2010.

The final recommendation is to join up climate investment plans and economic development funding within an overarching green growth strategy. This would provide the necessary stability for private investment through long-term regional commitments.

But instead of a joined-up plan for the country, Westminster warring factions have seized the agenda. The recent budget has shown a doubling-down on cuts and austerity. Roll on the general election – but the incoming government is going to have a job on its hands.

Mike Baldwin, Raven Road, Nether Edge, Sheffield.

There have been more leaks about the Budget than storm overflows in the wettest February on record. And it is what was predicted: a 2 per cent cut in National Insurance. This is when the economy is in recession, an economy not only trashed by Liz Truss but left rudderless, bereft of direction under Hunt and Sunak.

This is when the NHS is on its knees after 14 years of below average funding and with 7.6m people on the waiting list. This is when dental services are threadbare, local authorities are going bankrupt, rivers are full of sewage and schools are falling down.

After the latest cut in National Insurance we will still be suffering the highest level of taxation since the Second World War. On top of all that, it has been established that cuts in National Insurance benefit the richest 20 per cent of households 12 times more than the poorest 20 per cent.

We don’t want a Government which cynically buys a few votes to keep Tory MPs’ jobs after the general election.

We need a government which will invest in the nation’s health, invest to grow the economy, invest to produce cheap, clean energy, invest in the future of our children. We need a Labour Government.