Budget must acknowledge regional growth and capital’s strength
During the Tory leadership contest, a raft of regional papers launched a campaign calling on the various candidates to “power up the north”.
The now-chancellor Sajid Javid promised to do just that. Now his former adviser Nick King, via the Centre for Policy Studies, has produced a plan for boosting regional growth not just across the north but across all corners of the country, too.
The plans are eminently sensible: a National Infrastructure Fund, more power for local mayors to make local decisions, and flexibility on skills policies all have their cheerleaders, and rightly so.
Most intriguing is the creation of Opportunity Zones, designed to encourage investment into the most deprived parts of the country.
Executed in a clear and detailed way, they could become a small-scale version of the approach the Thatcher government took to the Docklands.
Those of us in the capital can be inclined to look upon the complaints of those areas outside London and the south-east with a degree of scepticism.
It’s true that our corner of the country gets a disproportionate amount of spending on transport, for instance, but there aren’t millions of people commuting to and from work in Carlisle every day.
The government must strike a balance — between protecting the capital’s status as a global city and a driver of economic growth with the need to ensure that the that the rest of the UK is not overlooked or underserved.
Too often, the worthy call to supercharge regional economies has descended into criticisms of London and its industries. There have been precious few politicians willing to make the case for financial services, in particular.
This is particularly odd, given that the industry may have its heart in London but much of its muscle operates far outside London.
So it was heartening to hear treasury minister John Glen tell an audience yesterday that “this government absolutely believes in the City” and committed to a flexible regulatory approach after Brexit.
Quite apart from the tax revenues and the well-practiced arguments about the value of the capital (and the capital flowing within it) to the country’s GDP, it remains true that much of those regional economies rely on the financial apparatus so hard at work in the Square Mile.
Government is often about difficult choices, but picking between London and the regions is a false one. A rising tide, after all, lifts all boats.
Main image: Getty