Five ‘game changers’ that help level up the north

Civic and business leaders from across the North are putting forward a collective partnership offer to the government, setting out how the North can deliver on the levelling up promise.

The Convention of the North and the NP11 group of northern local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) has released a new document in which northern leaders set out the five ‘game changers’ which, through collaboration across the North and with government, will grow an inclusive economy that delivers for the North and the country, while also tackling the health inequalities that have been laid bare by the pandemic.

The ‘game changers’ are: leading the Green Industrial Revolution; closing the healthy life expectancy gap between the North and South through innovation; closing the education and skills gap; improving connectivity in towns and cities in the North; and increasing private and public investment in R&D spending in the North.

Leaders have invited Michael Gove, the Secretary of State for Levelling-Up, Housing and Communities, to join them for a working Convention in Liverpool in January 2022, focused on turning the government’s positive commitment to level up the North into action.

Steve Rotheram, Liverpool City Region Mayor, said: “True levelling up has to mean tackling long-standing and structural inequalities that exist between North and South in this country on a wide range of issues, from healthcare and job prospects, to transport and infrastructure spending. This is not an issue of party politics but one of fairness and social justice.

“As leaders representing millions of people across the North, we want to work with government to make that a reality. The North has been hit harder than the rest of the country, but I believe that with proper support we also have the potential to bounce back further and faster than the rest of the country too.

“From levelling up to climate change and everything in between, the solutions to many of the fundamental issues facing the country lie in empowering local leaders to work with central government and take the decisions that our areas need to shape our own destinies and build a stronger, fairer, better balanced United Kingdom.”

Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire, said: “Today is a powerful statement of northerners’ desire to get on with the job of levelling up, working together across the North and with government. Through a clear focus on our levelling up priorities of health, skills, transport, innovation and leading the transition to net zero, we can deliver an inclusive, productive, sustainable economy that works for all northerners and for the country.

“As an immediate action, we’re calling on government once again to publish its Integrated Rail Plan and commit to delivering both Northern Powerhouse Rail and HS2 in full. We will not be able to achieve levelling up without an affordable, effective and reliable transport system that connects people to jobs, education and essential services.”