Since the general election in December 2019, the term ‘levelling up’ has become used regularly by politicians in addressing the economic and social inequalities that exist across the UK.
Whilst the Covid-19 pandemic clearly interrupted any plans for developing policies to deal this issue, it has returned as a central theme of the programme for government as set out in the Queen’s Speech earlier this year.
But what does the UK Government mean by the term levelling up and what will the policy aim to achieve over the next three years? That very question was at the heart of a recent report published by the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee at the House of Commons.
Unfortunately, the eleven MPs on the committee concluded that whilst it is something that is brought up constantly by the Prime Minister, the Cabinet and other politicians as being the central purpose and mission of the UK Government, there remains a lack of clarity about what it means beyond the aim of ‘improving everyday life and life chances’.
This opaqueness means that not only is there currently little understanding on how this will translate into policies and strategies, there is a danger that it will have little real impact especially given the difficulties in assessing its impact on individuals, businesses and localities.
This is not to say that the concept is not important as there have been considerable regional imbalances in the UK for many years and the economic differences between the more prosperous and poorest parts country have been growing.
Certainly, there is a consensus that dealing with such inequalities must be an integral part of any post pandemic recovery especially as it is clear that a number of areas in the UK have suffered disproportionately as a result of the pandemic.
Yet it would that according to the evidence within the report, there is no clear strategy to address this and, instead, there is a patchwork of policies which have little relation or relevance to each other and range from developing an approach to combat growing obesity to plans for the creation of Freeports. That cannot be allowed to continue and the development of a coherent strategy must be a priority over the next few months if resources are to be maximised in addressing the levelling up agenda in a detailed and relevant way.
However, a major concern of politicians across the UK previously in receipt of both UK and EU financial support is whether any future support will be as generous as those pots of money. Indeed, there have been fears raised in Wales recently as to whether the new Shared Prosperity Fund to be introduced in 2021 will be as generous as that received from Europe since 2000. Certainly, with the UK Government having already spent many billions of pounds of public money in combating the pandemic, there are some who question whether there is enough funding left in the Treasury to realistically address the clear ambitions of the UK Government in closing the gap between UK regions.
One way to address this would be for every UK Government department to examine their budgets in the context of the levelling up agenda once a coherent strategy has been developed and to have this at the heart of any decisions on funding going forward, especially in ensuring that the poorest parts of the UK have access to the resources needed.
More importantly, there is a need for all stakeholders to understand who is doing what in terms of the levelling up agenda. If this is to be at the heart of government policy going forward, then there not only needs to be better co-ordination and delivery across UK Government departments but also greater co-operation with the devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Finally, as any businessperson would tell you, any strategy must have a vision for what it wants to achieve and there needs to be a clear message from the UK Government as to what a ‘levelled-up” nation would look like.
In particular, will the UK Government have the courage to establish clear targets for what it wants levelling up achieve over a set period of time (as it has done so with its net zero strategy) or will there be obfuscation in terms of the economic and social metrics that will measure any progress going forward?
Therefore, there are few who would disagree with the concept of levelling up but as we recover from the worst economic downturn in over three centuries, this must turn from a slogan that can be bandied around by politicians into a clear strategy that will finally begin to ensure that the less prosperous parts of the UK are given the resources and tools to close a prosperity gap that has existed for far too long.