Covid 19 has increased the urgency for a comprehensive, large scale plan to level the UK Economy the UK 2070 Commission has found. In a follow on report to their February report which found that the UK is the most unequal large country in the developed world, the Commission has found that the pandemic has exposed the UK’s economic dependency on London and only a balanced growth plan is likely to deliver greater prosperity without damaging environmental and social consequences.
The Commission has prepared a Post-Covid Action Plan setting out the priorities for action over the next ten years. Learning the lessons from the Covid response it proposes a major programme of investment in transport, skills and the advanced economy coupled with a radical devolution of powers and funding from Whitehall.
UK2070 Chair Lord Kerslake, the former Head of the Home Civil Service, said:
“Our new Post-Covid Action Plan sets out a proposed programme of action which unlocks capacity and delivers action at scale through local democratic leadership. We are calling on the Government to … Go Big - Go Local
We’re saying what is missing is a clear plan setting out the scale and form of levelling up, the actions required to deliver it and measures and milestones to success. ” Covid-19 may have changed the path to delivery of levelling up but not its urgency and importance. The temptation of the government will be to rein in their ambitions and spending. This would be a serious error. To have any meaningful impact, what is needed now is a New Deal for Levelling Up”
Useful Links:
Read the new report on the UK2070 website: http://uk2070.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Go-Big-Go-Local.pdf
See a full list of their publications on their website: http://uk2070.org.uk/publications/
Read more related news stories about UK2070 on our website:
- https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/planning/news/2020/feb/uk2070-commission-warns-government-it-must-deliver-generational-shift-if-levelling
- https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/planning/news/2019/jun/uk2070-commission-launches-first-report
- https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/planning/news/2018/oct/bsp-staff-play-key-role-new-commission-regional-inequalities
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