CEDOS Response to the Prime Minister’s Speech on Levelling Up – 15th July 2021
CEDOS, in response to the Prime Minister’s speech of 15th July 2021, welcomes the ongoing commitment to Levelling Up as a core economic policy and the ongoing recognition that social and economic imbalances are not just between London and the South East and the rest of England, but are present within sub-regions and county areas. We wait to see what policy initiatives are announced that are longer term and more powerful than previous programmes to support local and regional economic growth and our members are more than happy to share our previous experiences of these programmes with Government.
Our members understand overcoming economic imbalances is a long term process and need to be based on areas obtaining real comparative advantage in growing industries and sectors, which in turn can generate high paid jobs that demand high levels of skills. Previous programmes have frequently placed emphasis on lower margin, lower skilled sectors that often grow as a result of economic success rather than being a driver of that success.
Levelling Up with require both transformational investment and also transformational opportunities. Back office functions relocating from London, whilst welcome, are only part of the answer. Local leadership and locally relevant devolution are critical elements of Levelling Up, but we need to work with Government to generate the scale of opportunities that can lead to genuine transformative change.