Greater challenge to ‘level up’ after Covid

Sunderland will be better placed than many cities to bounce back from coronavirus – but the pandemic will make the Government’s commitment to ‘levelling up’ the North East even harder.

That’s the message from Wearside-born economist Paul Swinney as think tank Centre for Cities launches a new report looking at the impact of the virus.

Cities Outlook 2021 says Covid-19’s economic damage makes the Government’s promise to level up the North East almost three times harder, with 47,700 people in the region’s cities now needing to find secure, well-paid jobs compared to 18,300 last March.

Middlesbrough faces the biggest challenge, closely followed by Sunderland and Newcastle.

Centre for Cities says measures that Chancellor Rishi Sunak should take include making the £20 rise in Universal Credit permanent, helping jobless people find new good jobs and looking at a renewed Eat Out to Help Out scheme for hospitality once it is safe. Mr Swinney said the Government had won an election by promising to level up the regions but was now facing a much bigger challenge.

The consolation for Sunderland was that it had not been hit as hard as many other parts of the country.

“And when we look at the most recent data, Sunderland has some of the lowest numbers of people claiming furlough,” he said.

But while that should make it easier for Sunderland to get back to where it was pre-pandemic, that position left much to be desired.