Convention of the North – Clues for the future of Levelling Up
Convention of the North
Yesterday was the annual Convention of the North, held in Manchester. The keynote speech for the event was delivered by Rt Hon Michael Gove, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities. This speech was a potential insight into the future of the Levelling Up policy, of which only brief glimpses have been heard since the latest Prime Minister came to power.
In terms of how Levelling Up may be managed and delivered going forwards, it was a case of back to the recent future, referring to the missions of the Levelling Up White Paper. Last February now seems an age ago and the policy was set out in a very different socio-economic context, on the eve of war in the Ukraine. The speech acknowledged the UK was in a low growth, high inflation economic cycle (although it was pointed out that this was the same across other OECD nations) and it was hinted at that this would create difficulties for Levelling Up, especially as already thin resources are now likely to be stretched much further.
The macro-economic climate is clearly not conducive to Levelling Up the areas and communities that are lagging behind. This at a time when the rapid increase in prices is hammering those with the lowest incomes and who have the least resilience to ride out a crisis. At least the reference back to the Levelling Up White Paper still recognises there is a broader set of objectives for Levelling Up than transport infrastructure and making sure the trains run on time, although little additional detail was provided in this regards in the speech.
The speech also suggested that most of the problems that hold back poorer performing parts of the UK are predominately supply side issues – and the traditional Conservative policies of Freeports, Enterprise Zones and Investment Zones, coupled with tax breaks for capital investment and small amounts of pump priming are the core answer to the problem. The case study of Docklands in London was given as to how freedoms and vision can lead to significant private sector led economic regeneration – although the £2bn of Government investment at the time into the Docklands Light Railway, London City Airport, the Jubilee Line extension and the acquisition and remediation of large swathes of land was not mentioned.
Perhaps the key outcome of the speech, coming on the heels of the Levelling Up Fund Round 2 announcement, was the galvanising of local politicians and Elected Mayors of all political persuasions to call for the end of the competitive allocation of resources. This is a campaign that CEDOS is also championing.
Competitive bidding wastes local resources, leads to inertia waiting for Civil Service decisions, does not support long term economic and community based planning and frequently leads to resources being invested in activity with the lowest risk profile rather than where they will make the most difference.
Despite an ongoing commitment to devolution of Government, the prevalence of competitive programmes remains at the centre of Levelling Up policy at the moment and is contradictory to devolving powers and resources. If only we could all have our own Docklands style investment……