Michael Gove admits Northerners are understandably 'cynical' about levelling up after years of austerity

Michael Gove has admitted many Northerners are understandably "cynical" about the Government's levelling up ambitions following billions in cuts to local public services over the past decade.

Speaking at the Convention of the North event in Liverpool, the Levelling Up Secretary urged people to judge the Government on its future actions as he suggested the issue of tackling regional inequality will now dominate political debate for the rest of the decade and potentially beyond.

Research has suggested that Government funding for English councils fell in real terms by more than 40 per cent between 2015/16 and 2020/21 - a decrease of £9.3bn.

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Mr Gove, who served as a Cabinet Minister under David Cameron and Theresa May as well as Boris Johnson, was asked at the convention about the Government's own role in creating regional inequalities in recent years.

Michael Gove speaking at the Convention of the North event in LiverpoolMichael Gove speaking at the Convention of the North event in Liverpool
Michael Gove speaking at the Convention of the North event in Liverpool

He said that while it was “necessary” to rebalance public spending in the wake of the 2008 economic crisis, he accepted there was an “ongoing debate” about the steps that were taken.

“You can never know with perfect hindsight whether or not the restrictions on public spending were judged just right,” he said.

“Even during the Coalition years, we actually extend the date by which we believe that we will bring the budget back into balance in order to ensure that vital public services were supported.

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“But I can quite understand why communities which were already facing a tough time and faced a uniquely tough time during austerity will be at best sceptical, at worst cynical about the Government’s commitment to level up. All I would say is that judge us on our actions in the future.”

Mr Gove said his former Cabinet colleague George Osborne’s role in establishing the Northern Powerhouse Partnership “was a recognition there was a need to focus power, and economic power in particular, towards the North.”

“But I entirely understand why people will require convincing that the Government is serious - it is part of my job to do that.”

Mr Gove told the conference that the intention of last week’s Levelling Up White Paper is designed to start tackling the UK’s parallel problems of being both geographically unequal in terms of economic power and overly-centralised in regards to political decision-making powers.

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“Those two things go together,” he said. “The degree of centralisation of power, of wealth and resource and decision-making in the South-East of England... needs to be addressed, changed and fundamentally reversed.

“That’s the mission of this Government.”

He said devolving extra powers was central to achieving the Government’s aims.

“You can’t achieve positive change if you simply rely on the centre to direct investment, to intervene, to determine and to dictate.

“It is only through devolution and the empowerment of local actors - the mayors, the mayoral combined authorities, the local leaders with whom they work, local business people and entrepreneurs who have a feel for their market - that you can make that change.”

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He said success in Germany in tackling regional inequality following unification was a combination of Government investment but also successful partnership working with local leaders.”

With the Levelling Up White Paper setting 12 key ‘missions’ to achieve by 2030 in areas like education and productivity, Mr Gove said the plan seeks to achieve to similar success to that seen in Germany.

“The scale of the ambition we have laid out, running up to 2030, I think will shape the political debate for the next nine years and so it should,” he said.

“Labour, Conservative, Liberal Democrat - I think everyone has to engage with this debate and we will be held to account.”

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Mr Gove added that “reform” of local Government will include consideration of extra powers in areas such as business rates.

“Deciding which route is the best to go down depends on conversations with local leaders,” he said.

“It is important we have a three-way conversation - me, local leaders and of course, the Treasury.”

Labour’s Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham gave a cautious welcome to Mr Gove’s speech.

He said: “We want this to be a moment of change.

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“I was encouraged by what we have just heard from the Secretary of State. He was talking some of the language I could relate to. It the delivery now we need to see but hopefully we will.”

Brabin questions transport ambitions

The Government’s Levelling Up ambition of London-style public transport networks across the country has been thrown into doubt by the Integrated Rail Plan, West Yorkshire mayor Tracy Brabin has suggested.

She told the conference: “It is really difficult to believe we are heading towards a London-style transport network when we have an Integrated Rail Plan that is suboptimal and is not necessarily delivering what we need.”

Ms Brabin highlighted concerns about substantial cuts to a £3bn fund for ‘bus transformation’ outside London.

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“What we thought was £3bn has turned into £1.2bn. It is looking like we are going to have to use that money just to keep the network we have afloat.”

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