Last Thursday, as the starting gun was sounded on UK’s general election campaign, every front page of every local newspaper in the North of England carried the same message: whoever wins, this election must close the North-South divide.

They were announcing the Manifesto for the North, published that day by the Convention of the North with NP11, a coalition of political and business leaders from across the North and the body representing the 11 Northern Local Enterprise Partnerships. Cross-party and non-partisan, the Manifesto sets out the reforms which are needed to address some of the North’s lasting inequalities.

The North of England is home to 15.4 million people, and, as the cradle of the first Industrial Revolution, has had a proud and prosperous history. It was badly affected by industrial and economic change in the latter part of the 20th Century. Recent moves to devolve power to city regions and to establish the Northern Powerhouse, have begun to develop the North’s rich potential. But there is a long way to go to achieve the lasting economic transformation that the region needs. There is a persistent and longstanding performance gap between the North and the rest of the country. GVA per capita is 25% lower in the North than the average for the rest of England.

The UK2070 Commission, published earlier this year, found that the UK is one of the most regionally unbalanced countries in the industrialised world. The UK’s richest region (London) has a 50% higher level of productivity than any other nation or region in the UK: as the South East, and London, has grown, the north has declined. The North has lower skills levels, poorer schools and worse transport systems than London and the south east. Part of this is down to the lasting effects of de-industrialisation, but serial under funding compounds this: over the past decade, transport spending increased by 2.5 times more per person in London than in the North, and the level of transport spending on the North remains below UK average.

Against this background, and with an election imminent, representatives from local government, youth parliaments, businesses, LEPS and other stakeholder groups in the North met on 13th September at the Magna Centre in Rotherham. The Convention of the North with NP11, was the biggest ever gathering of Northern leaders. The aim was simple: to create a unified voice behind one agenda for the North, that would set out what working together the North can achieve for itself, and what support it needs from Government to enable this.

With participation from political and business leaders, community groups, and young people, the Convention showed the North’s determination to turn around its fortunes, to close the gap with the South and in doing so, benefit the whole country.

Discussion at the Convention, and the contents of the policy papers drafted for the event, have shaped the Manifesto for the North, which sets out a five-point plan to influence major changes across a range of policy areas, from skills and education, to housing, transport, innovation, trade and investment and clean growth. These five headline policies, or game-changers, are essential prerequisites for Northern economic success:

Local control of education and training, skills provision that is systematically connected to the North’s businesses and growth needs, underpinned by the increased funding required to create opportunity for all our people.
A commitment to rebalancing the economy as a formal HM Treasury objective, delivering transformational investment to power up the North, a formal commitment to rebalancing in the Green Book, and Office for Budget Responsibility measurement of progress towards this objective.
A transport budget for the North, enabling full delivery of the Transport for the North plan and supporting the devolution of control and shared accountability for the region’s rail network.
Ownership of, and freedom to lead, investment and trade activities to drive export led growth, with a greater scale of investment to level up the North’s export and inward investment activities.
Backing the North to lead the green industrial revolution, harnessing and investing in its prime capability in renewable energy, decarbonising industry, retrofitting existing housing stock and building new homes to the highest standards.

Partners in the North will work together to develop these policy ideas and to build capacity for delivery and the Convention with NP11 will meet again next year in Liverpool to assess progress and agree its continuing priorities. Meanwhile, as we now enter the Election campaign, and await the Party Manifestos, the next Government has been served notice in unequivocal terms of what the North expects.

Metro Dynamics supported the first Convention of the North in 2018 [1] and this year again worked with the Convention of the North and NP11 to curate the policy content for the event and subsequently develop the Manifesto for the North.

To discuss further please contact either Ben Lucas or Fiona Tuck.

[1] http://www.metrodynamics.co.uk/blog/2018/9/7/a-rare-and-precious-unity-reflections-on-the-first-convention-of-the-north

Image credit: https://www.np11.org.uk/convention/