Northern mayors, council leaders and business representatives are calling on the government to learn lessons from Germany by 'hard-wiring' levelling up into UK law. They want central government to move away from the current competitive bidding systems like the Levelling Up fund awarded last week.
They are calling for a financial settlement where all regions have the funding they need to close the gaps in living standards and help grow the national economy. It comes ahead of the Convention of the North where local leaders from across the region will meet in Manchester on Wednesday (January 25).
Together with levelling up secretary Michael Gove and Labour MP Lisa Nandy, German minister Carsten Schneider is due to address the annual convention. He will tell the audience how Germany levelled up through its constitution.
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Speaking ahead of the event, the Minister for East Germany and Equivalent Living Conditions in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’ Government said: "Regional structural policy has long been a cornerstone of German politics. The goal of creating equal living conditions everywhere in Germany can even be found in our constitution. There are good reasons for it.
"If regions are drifting apart, it is bad for everyone, including for the growing regions. If a variety of regions flourish, the whole country will prosper."
According to the Northern leaders, potential is being held back by disparities between the North and the South East when it comes to key living standards. For example, they argue that increasing the proportion of people living within 400m of a high frequency bus service to the level of London would increase it by 62 percentage points in Greater Manchester.
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Reducing the proportion of households in fuel poverty to the level of the South East would reduce them by 5.8 percentage points in the North West, they say, while reducing the proportion of over-16s with no qualifications to the level of the South East would reduce them by 4.1 percentage points in the North West.
Raising male healthy life expectancy to the level of the South East would increase it by four years in the North West, they added, while for females, health life expectancy would increase it by 3.5 years in the North West. The plans to hard-wire levelling up into UK law will be set out by Northern mayors, council leaders and business leaders at Convention of the North.
They will argue that closing these gaps will be vital not only to improving outcomes for millions of people throughout the North West, North East and Yorkshire and the Humber, but also to growing the UK economy as a whole.
Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, said: "The Levelling Up Fund announcement last week laid bare the issues with these short-term competitive funding pots. We end up with winners and losers but nobody is able to actually plan for long-term investment in their areas. Hard-wiring levelling up into UK law would move us away from policy by press release and start to tackle the unequal living standards we have in our country.
"If we were able to close the gaps between the North and London and the South East, we’d see drastic improvements in everything from incomes to skills, to ultimately boosting life expectancy. This would of course be good for people in the North, but would also help grow the UK economy as a whole.
"Germany shows us what can be done when you hard-wire legal guarantees to tackle inequalities and empower local leaders into the fabric of your country. East Germany has seen long-term support and investment since the fall of communism – and it has worked. Cities in Eastern Germany are now powering ahead of cities here in the North.
"Our own history has shown us that, too often, the North struggles to get to the top of the Government’s to-do list – whichever political party is in charge. That’s why we need to hard-wire levelling up into UK law and unlock the potential of the North to help the whole country thrive."
Manchester council leader and co-Chair of Convention of the North Bev Craig, added: "Across the North, we still too often face disparities of wealth, health and opportunity that could be redressed through a long-term approach to investment and infrastructure. Cities such as Manchester have a clear understanding of where investment is needed to generate growth that benefits everyone, and we are best placed to be able to deliver.
"For Levelling Up to be a coherent and effective policy, rather than a mere slogan, it needs to move away from being a competitive bidding process – with the rationale for decisions unclear – to a consistent, long-term approach which directs more funding to the areas which need it most and gives them control over how they best use it."
Northern Powerhouse Partnership chief executive Henri Murison said: "That Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove and his shadow Lisa Nandy are both coming to address the Convention of the North today is to be welcomed. As George Osborne demonstrated when he worked with largely Labour council leaders to agree the first major devolution deal with Greater Manchester, no one political party can deliver this agenda by working alone.
"A legal commitment to reduce regional inequalities would be a positive step forward, and would be more effective than continuing central control, as represented by last week’s beauty pageant of Levelling Up Fund bids. In Germany much more spending power sits in all its regions by retaining taxes raised in places, alongside a commitment to address inequalities between them.
"Here in the North we have neither of those things. That is why moving towards fiscal devolution is so vital to ensure that no part of the country, neither North nor London, is forced to put out a begging bowl to Whitehall."
A Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities spokesperson said: "We are absolutely committed to our Levelling Up missions, which are clearly defined, measurable and will be recognised in law. They are underpinned by robust public metrics that will hold this and future governments to account and we are committed to publishing an annual report on progress.
"Our levelling up funds have delivered billions of investment and benefits for millions of people across the whole UK. They sit alongside a number of other interventions to boost innovation and productivity and shift power away from Whitehall and into the hands of local leaders."
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