How not to Power Up The North – The Yorkshire Post says

IT was already clear – long before Chancellor Rishi Sunak delayed the Budget and Spending Review – that the Northern Powerhouse and ‘levelling up’ agendas were losing impetus.
By YP Comment
Published 28th Sep 2020, 05:55 BST
The Angel of the North was the symbol of the Power Up The North campaign run by The Yorkshire Post and more than 40 newspapers across the North.The Angel of the North was the symbol of the Power Up The North campaign run by The Yorkshire Post and more than 40 newspapers across the North.
The Angel of the North was the symbol of the Power Up The North campaign run by The Yorkshire Post and more than 40 newspapers across the North.

The first warning sign came in February when the Cabinet status of the Northern Powerhouse Minister was downgraded – despite Boris Johnson having accepted the compelling case, made by the Power Up The North campaign, for this region to be represented at the Government’s top table.

Next came the outbreak of Covid-19 and the realisation that Transport Secretary Grant Shapps could not devote sufficient time to his dual role as Northern Powerhouse Minister. This is not a reflection on him, more the workings of the Government and its over-reliance on the more competent communicators like Mr Shapps.

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And then the marginalisation of the North at the Cobra emergency meetings formulating the country’s response to Covid-19 – it beggars belief that the region at the centre of the second wave of cases is still not represented and this oversight reflects poorly on Boris Johnson.

Grant Shapps has a dual role as Transport Secretary and Northern Powerhouse Minister.Grant Shapps has a dual role as Transport Secretary and Northern Powerhouse Minister.
Grant Shapps has a dual role as Transport Secretary and Northern Powerhouse Minister.

These developments, coupled with the Department for Education’s indifference over ‘levelling up’ and the creation of more Opportunity Areas to raise school standards, vindicates the critical assessment of the Centre for Cities think-tank. The Budget and Spending Review was the best chance to put the ‘levelling up’ agenda at the heart of the Government’s mission and to overhaul the Treasury’s so-called ‘Green Book’ on spending which has been so detrimental to the North. It is vital that this opportunity is not lost. Over to you, Chancellor.

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Thank you

James Mitchinson

Related topics:Yorkshire PostRishi SunakGrant ShappsGovernmentCovid-19

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