South West must fight for share of investment
BUSINESS leaders in the South West have welcomed Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s promises to “level up” the UK with Government spending, but say the West Country will still have to fight for its share of the cash.
The Chancellor, in his Spending Review, said the South West would benefit from spending on housing, highways and flood and coastal defence.
But it was the new £4billion Levelling Up Fund which grabbed much attention, designed to pay for local infrastructure that has a “visible impact” on people and their communities and support economic recovery.
Business leaders in the South West welcomed this but said it will now be for the region to make a strong case for the cash, and fear the peninsula could be overlooked in favour of areas in the North where the Tories made gains in the 2019 general election.
Likewise, there is a concern the announcement of a £220million Shared Prosperity Fund, designed to replace EU structural funding, could end up being diverted elsewhere.
Tim Jones, chairman of South West Business Council, said the South West will now have to “roll its sleeves up” and battle for its share of funding.
He said the hard work starts now for the region if it is to benefit from measures such as the Levelling Up Fund and added: “This is the beginning, we have to get a battle plan together.”
He said the Levelling Up Fund was encouraging news but stressed: “We will have to get our act together and demonstrate our ability to add value.”
Mr Jones also said he hopes Government aid for the West Country will continue beyond the Spending Review announcements and there will be further help for the region’s economy, which has been ravaged by the Covid crisis and its economic aftershock.
“By far and away the hardest hit sector is hospitality, tourism and leisure, so we need special help over time,” he said. “That could be a two- or threeyear journey.”
Stuart Elford, chief executive of Devon and Plymouth Chamber of Commerce, said he broadly welcomed Mr Sunak’s announcements, but stressed “the devil is in the detail” and awaits further clarification.
He is also concerned assistance from the Levelling Up Fund and Shared Prosperity Fund, which was described by the Chancellor as “UKwide” and for “pilot programmes”, will go north.
Mr Elford, who recently gave evidence to a parliamentary group looking at levelling up the UK, said the investment funds announced by the Chancellor should be allocated along the lines that EU funding was – with the South West in line for a major share.
He said: “The far South West peninsula, the Great South West area, has been ignored for too long. It has been overlooked.”
And he emphasised: “There was not a single mention of the South West in his (the Chancellor’s) speech.”
Kim Conchie, chief executive of Cornwall Chamber of Commerce, said: “The most interesting thing seems to be the £4billion Levelling Up Fund.”
But he also feared the South West could be left out – unless it fought for the cash.
He said: “Levelling up, until now, has been a euphemism for levelling up the North, particularly those red wall constituencies, which the Conservatives won at the last election, but this pot does seem able to be tendered for by the less prosperous parts of the UK.
“If Cornwall could get some of that it could be quite interesting. But £4billion across the whole UK, or England, is not a lot of money and pro rata that would not make much difference to any economy, but what we have to present in Cornwall are the things that will play an important part in the 21st Century economy.
“So I would like to see some bids going in for renewable energy projects, health tech projects, stuff
Dan Foote around training and health and wellbeing in the workplace in which Cornwall has a role to play, as well, of course, as our crucial industries such as fishing, the uncertainty of Brexit being upon us, agritech and our farming. We have some of the greatest agricultural products in the world, and mining, with our lithium and the connection with geothermal engineering coming to the fore.
“So I’m hoping there will be some real opportunities for Cornwall to show its worth in these new industries and bid for some of the Levelling Up Fund.”