North East needs for 2022
Date published:
Marianne O’Sullivan’s latest column for the Journal
As we get 2022 well underway Covid is once again having a large impact on the economy with work from home guidance in place along with increased numbers of staff needing to self isolate disrupting supply chains and businesses. Government has announced some grants available to hospitality and leisure businesses. Councils in the North East will be opening applications soon with all money distributed by the 31 March.
This support is welcome, however Government must be ready to go further if Covid measures are tightened or prolonged and give support to other sectors who are also being negatively impacted.
Another issue for the economy in 2022 will be inflation, rising energy prices and the cost of living. In a survey of our members in quarter 3 of 2021 inflation was the top concern of businesses followed by staff shortages, energy prices and staff costs. These concerns are set to continue into 2022 and its important Government helps tackle these areas.
Unlike future energy bills, the levelling up white paper is eagerly anticipated and due to be published in the coming months. It has the potential to be key for the region’s economy. It urgently needs to set out exactly what the government means by the term levelling up as this will set out which actions will achieve a more fair UK and also measure the success of Government’s strategies.
We need to see Government set out targets including increasing educational attainment, reducing child poverty, improving business growth rates and increasing transport capacity. Policy measures to support this include the decentralisation of national institutions, increasing the visibility of the North East to private investors, fair funding for schools and more devolution around infrastructure decisions.
There have been reports that the levelling up white paper will focus on devolution but the Treasury has said there is no extra money available. It would be meaningless to have more Mayors without devolving powers and access to funds, leaving areas reliant on bidding to central government. We need to ensure that levelling up involves local decision making.
There needs to be a move away from short term competitive bidding processes for funding towards a more collaborative form of Government with longer term consistent funding to tackle some of these issues. The UK Shared Prosperity Fund is due to be in place in April replacing EU funding. This fund will be essential for the North East and creating a fairer economic recovery from Covid in 2022.