Reviving regions following coronavirus

Just over a month ago in our report, All Together Now, we were calling on government to ensure all areas across England published their local industrial strategies by this summer. Only seven of thirty-five have been published and the government’s original deadline of March 2020 has passed. Rightly, the government’s priorities have adjusted. It’s now focused on saving lives, supporting business as the economy is dramatically slowed and beginning to think how we can return to a sense of normal. 

It’s too early to know what the full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic will be and how hard regional economies will be hit. There is no directly comparable event to that we’re now experiencing. But we do know the UK has had a persistent gap in regional productivity and there’s no reason to believe that gap will be any easier to address as we work to revive the UK’s economy. 

Based on what we’ve gleaned from conversations, government views regions as crucial to reviving the UK’s economy, so there’s every expectation that their levelling up agenda progresses will resume later this year. This comes alongside their plans to devolve powers, as demonstrated in the West Yorkshire devolution deal announced in what seems like a year ago, but was only last month at the Budget. 

Engagement with Mayors and stakeholders 

Four weeks ago, we were on the cusp of launching our mayoral manifestos for elections in Greater London, Greater Manchester, West Midlands, Liverpool City Region and the Tees Valley when we received word the Electoral Commission suggested government delay local elections due to coronavirus. Government rightly decided to delay until May 2021, meaning we’ll now have elections in the aforementioned places, in addition to West of England, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, Sheffield City Region, and the most recently agreed West Yorkshire Combined Authority. 

In the meantime, we’ve been sharing daily and weekly updates with Mayoral Combined Authorities and Local Enterprise Partnerships on a daily and weekly basis to share the immediate and long-term concerns of business. These updates have been well received. In addition, we’ve been joining regular calls with Mayors and others to go into further detail so that we can inform decision makers at all levels what’s required to assist business during this unprecedented period. 

England’s 38 Growth Hubs are available to provide practical support and guidance to local employers and businesses across the country facing the challenges caused by the economic impact of coronavirus. You can find your nearest Growth Hub on our Coronavirus Hub here. 

Unlocking regional growth 

We’ve tried avoiding the phrase ‘business as usual’, as workstreams previously underway on closing the regional productivity divide are now more important than ever. We still don’t know the full economic impact of COVID-19 on England’s regions or the global economy, but there are certainly challenges ahead. In addition to assisting Mayors and local leaders with restarting local economies at the appropriate time, we’re increasingly focused on what’s needed to revive regional economies in the future and ultimately arrive to a place of renewal. 

This involves building upon our Unlocking Regional Growth and Powering Up Places reports to set out the key drivers of regional productivity working to ensure this recovery focuses on the importance of regional economies. Renewal will need to likely focus on sustainability, resilience and inclusive growth alongside key productivity drivers like education, skills, infrastructure, innovation and exports. If you’re interested in helping shape this work, please contact me. 

Labour proponents of regions 

Under ordinary circumstances there would have been greater attention during the latest leadership contest where Keir Starmer emerged as the new leader of the opposition. Sir Keir has championed a federal UK and handing over more powers to devolved nations and English regions. However, failing to capture many headlines is that Starmer has also appointed several regional enthusiasts to his shadow team who will be challenging the government’s regional approach and levelling up agenda. 

• Angela Rayner representing Ashton-under-Lyne was victorious in her bid as Deputy Leader and has been named Chair of the Labour Party. She’s been critical of the Conservatives handing over additional responsibilities to local government rather than real powers 
• Long-time frontbench MP, Yorkshireman and proponent of devolution John Healey was promoted from Shadow Secretary of State for Housing to Shadow Secretary of State for Defense. English devolution may be outside his immediate brief, but he may very well carry weight in regard to the role of regions moving forward 

• Former councillor and leader of Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council, and more recently Shadow Minister of State for Local Government Jim McMahon was promoted to Shadow Secretary of State for Transport. 

The CBI has already had close engagement with Keir Starmer, Shadow Chancellor Anneliese Dodd, Shadow Secretary of State for BEIS Ed Milliband, and many others. We will continue building upon these relationships to ensure the business view as it relates to reviving regional economies is well understood.