Northern Powerhouse now needs turbo-charging – The Yorkshire Post says

A RECORD rise in redundancies provides the stark backdrop to today’s Parliamentary debate on ‘levelling up’ and how Ministerial rhetoric is not being matched by deeds.

There will be a strong focus on South Yorkshire – it is perplexing that Ministers have vetoed a new, and potentially economically gamechanging, rail link to Doncaster Sheffield Airport.

But The Yorkshire Post will be looking for evidence that the Covid-19 pandemic has made the Northern Powerhouse and ‘levelling up’ programmes even more urgent; the-promised rewriting of Treasury ‘green book’ spending rules on infrastructure a defining test still to be passed.

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However progress will remain patchy until the London Government commits to a dedicated unit to co-ordinate policy prior to opening a fully fledged Whitehall department in the North (as previously promised). Only last month a journalist from this newspaper spent hours telephoning Whitehall and asking to be put through to Northern Powerhouse officials only to be told that they did not exist – a very discouraging response.

The Angel of the North came to define the Power Up The North campaign spearheaded by The Yorkshire Post and more than 40 newspapers last year.The Angel of the North came to define the Power Up The North campaign spearheaded by The Yorkshire Post and more than 40 newspapers last year.
The Angel of the North came to define the Power Up The North campaign spearheaded by The Yorkshire Post and more than 40 newspapers last year.

There also needs to be recognition that it was a mistake to demote the Cabinet status of the Northern Powerhouse Minister – and merge it with the transport brief held by Grant Shapps. Despite his enthusiasm, he continues to be pre-occupied by the Covid crisis.

And there needs to be an acceptance that ‘levelling up’ extends beyond HS2 and improvements to trans-Pennine rail links. They’re only part of a wider programme built on skills and the development of the next generation of innovators that will only make progress with better co-ordination, enhanced Commons scrutiny and more civil servants being based in the North – and recognising the challenges and opportunities that actually exist here – rather than continuing to favour London at all costs.

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