The Commons: The Leveling-Up Issues

Gov i Uk

In 2019, the Conservative government made leveling up a key priority in their election manifesto. Leveling up means bringing prosperity back to the North of England to close the gap between the North and the South, which has substantially grown over the past fifty years.

It is now five years later with another general election looming, but the Public Accounts Committee recently revealed that “only 10% of funding” has been used to address the issues that the Conservatives pledged to tackle back in 2019 under Boris Johnson.

The government responded to the statements made by the Public Accounts Committee and stated that they expect the funding to considerably increase over the coming years. Nevertheless, the slow progress by the Conservatives in trying to fix the problems that have plagued the North for multiple decades could lead to a heavy loss for the party in that region in the next election.

The Conservatives finally broke through the ‘Red Wall’ in 2019, but the leveling-up promises were a big part of their regional victories. Without any tangible progress nearly half a decade later, the party is now risking losing those seats they fought hard to win to the Labor Party.

The Public Accounts Committee found that out of the £10.47bn that had been earmarked for projects on the leveling-up policy, only “£3.7bn had been allocated to local authorities” with just £1.24bn being spent by the councils on these projects, which totals to just over 10% of the original funding.

The original £10.47bn budget was supposed to focus on a variety of different issues that were plaguing the North of England. These issues ranged from infrastructure and transport difficulties to economic subsidies that would help to boost the growth of many Northern towns that had been struggling in previous decades.

This was the impact of many years of campaigning and lobbying by politicians in the North of England, such as Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, who have been pleading with the legislators in Westminster to take action and help to bring prosperity back to the forgotten communities.

The issues were seen as a high priority, as the gap between the North and South was continuously widening before 2019. The spending so far has underwhelmed communities in the North, as they believe the action that was promised compared to the action that has been taken has been very different.

Nevertheless, there has been evidence provided by city councils across the U.K. to show that there has been progress from the leveling up policy with job creation in the local economy and infrastructure projects to help fix glaring issues within the cities.

The Hull City Council announced that “up to 200 full-time equivalent city center jobs will be created” as a result of the funding they have been given from the leveling-up budget.

As well as the Hull City Council, the Durham Council also stated that they have been making positive advancements due to the funding from the leveling-up policy. The council reported that “its projects are progressing well” despite concern about leveling up funding across the U.K.

Despite the statements by the Public Accounts Committee over the issues on the attributing of funding for leveling-up projects, it appears that there is progress being made on the budgets given to councils in the North of England with the councils of Hull City and Durham providing important information around this topic.

The announcements by councils in Hull and Durham have seemed to ease some pressure on the government, but recent developments by Jeremy Hunt may have hurt the perception of the Conservatives.

Regarding the leveling-up policy, it was initially perceived that the North of England would be prioritized ahead of other regions, but Chancellor of the Exchequer Jeremy Hunt’s recent budget and comments may have shown that leveling-up is not just for Northern towns and cities.

Hunt recently announced that £242m will be attributed to Barking Riverside and Canary Wharf, which “would build up to 8,000 homes”. Whilst announcing this, Hunt also stated this was due to “historic underinvestment in our nations and regions”.

This was part of the language used in 2019 over the Conservatives’ leveling up policy, which is now being used as justification for spending hundreds of millions on areas in the South of England, whilst many areas in the North have not received the funding that they were led to believe would be available during the campaign of the 2019 general election.

The perception of the Conservative Party since the reign of Margaret Thatcher from 1979 to 1990 was that the party always prioritized the South of England and the development of that region ahead of the North.

The ‘Northern Powerhouse’ phrase that was dubbed under David Cameron and George Osborne alongside the leveling-up policy in 2019 under Boris Johnson provided some indication that the priorities of the Conservative Party could be switching to help close the gap between the two regions.

However, the latest news provided by the Public Accounts Committee provides another potential twist in the future direction of the Conservative Party. Whilst figures in the party have stated that funding will increase as the years go on, the limited use so far initiates questions of the Conservatives’ commitment to the North of England.

As well as this, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt’s budget and added funding to areas in and near London could create issues with the Conservatives in the areas they won in 2019.

Conservatives’ public perception is extremely important in an election year, and whether or not they take steps to fulfill promises made in 2019 to the people in the North could be decisive.