UK should follow lead of German reunification to level up - David Blunkett

This move was opposed by Margaret Thatcher on the collapse of the Communist regime in the East in 1989. For geopolitical reasons, she believed that a very strong Germany would not be in the interests of the UK or Europe as a whole.

She was horrified at the size of the investment Helmut Kohl intended to make (which included an individual gift of Deutsche Marks to all adults living in the East), the possible implications this might have for UK politics, and the breach of the Conservative Alliance in promoting the market over the role of the State.

Helmut Kohl went ahead. A staggering two trillion euros (in today’s money) was spent on the endeavour to rapidly transform the physical infrastructure and the prosperity of the East.

Undoubtedly, mistakes were made, and the glitter of consumerism was followed by the emergence of a modernised Communist Party. Yet, the transformation that came about was breath-taking.

Why am I reflecting on this, all these years later? The answer is very simple. I’m taking a look at the so-called Levelling Up White Paper, published by Michael Gove and contrasting what is on offer, and the investment to back it up, with what happened during the unification of Germany.

If there is to be a genuine uplift in the fortunes of the North of England, it will take the kind of bold, visionary measures seen in Germany all those years ago to bring about such fundamental change. This is not just about the unequal spend on critical infrastructure such as road, rail and buses. Important as they are, it is much more about educational opportunity at every stage of life; employment opportunities that prepare for the future rather than harking back to the past, and productivity gains which then drive regeneration and job creation.

There are, of course, jobs available. The million or so European citizens who returned to their country of origin and have not applied for residency here, together with change of lifestyle and early retirement on the back of the Covid epidemic, has led to a tightening of the labour market to the point where vacancies are at an unprecedented level.

Yet by the very nature of what has happened, the jobs are too often poorly paid, lacking in prospects and, perversely, not available to those from overseas because work permits are only available for high-level, well-paid professions; or for uncertain and short-term seasonal work. These are often too late to deal with the critical shortage of workers in those areas of the economy.

We would have liked resources to have been announced in the White Paper for transport linking, efficiently, Leeds and Manchester, Sheffield and Manchester, and Sheffield and Leeds – as well as proper links between Leeds and Bradford and connectivity as a whole – not to mention proper electrification of all lines from Yorkshire to London. That had already been ruled out just a few weeks earlier when the Eastern leg of HS2 was cancelled, but without the requisite commitment to investment in alternatives, and what was known as “HS3”.

However, for me – and this applied to Labour’s response as well as the government’s unbelievably long and unreadable policy paper – the truly missing factor was a commitment to resources and practical measures which would be transformational to the education service.

From early years through to a skills programme which would offer a ladder of progression from low-paid, dead-end jobs into the equivalent, in Yorkshire, to the opportunity available for those who had moved to London.

Local politicians, here in Yorkshire and, for that matter, other parts of the North, were muted in their criticism of the policy paper – in part because the intentions of Michael Gove were clearly laudable, even if the paper itself was rooted in meanderings about Jericho and Ancient Rome. As a consequence, the real demand for fundamental change did not shine through.

In my view, when the misconduct, misgovernment, fraud and incompetence, revealed over recent months, fades into history, it will need a commitment to something more than a slight tinkering to oust this government. It will not be the tarting-up of buildings or the promise of jam tomorrow which will offer our part of the world a genuine alternative to the shambles of the present regime.

This is about borrowing for investment, establishing regional and local financial institutions, and putting in place mechanisms that will bring about the two things that will allow us to pay back the investment over time: sustained economic growth and a sea change in productivity. This message has been repeated, time and again, from representatives of the CBI and wider business community. I know that the Shadow Chancellor and MP for Leeds West, Rachel Reeves, will understand this message very clearly.

What we need now, however, is a collective will to be ambitious enough, aspirational enough and brave enough to put that alternative to the British people.

- David Blunkett was MP for Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough and now sits in the House of Lords.