Most Londoners probably haven’t heard of Goole – but the capital has had a huge impact on the fortunes of this small Yorkshire town.
Last year, Siemens’ new train factory in Goole announced its first order: Tube trains for TfL. Up to half of the new Piccadilly line train fleet will be built there, employing up to 700 people in engineering and manufacturing, 250 in construction and 1,700 across the broader supply chain.
That’s a huge number of skilled, well-paid jobs for northern workers, made possible because of investment in the London transport network.
It is easy to fall into the trap of pitting the north against the south - but the ties that bind us are stronger than we think. For any Londoners planning to skip over the levelling up white paper today, this is why it matters.
London powers much of the UK’s economy, contributing a net £36 billion to the Treasury. Meanwhile, decades of underinvestment have left productivity in the north lagging far behind. Wages are lower, opportunities scarcer – which is why so many young people (myself included) leave to seek their fortune in the capital instead.
The Northern Powerhouse, an economic vision I designed with George Osborne at the Treasury, is our plan to change that.
We wanted to link our great northern towns and cities with Northern Powerhouse Rail, to connect businesses to workers and workers to jobs, in the same way Crossrail will. We wanted to bring the best of northern universities and businesses together through greater investment in innovation and R&D. We wanted to improve education standards, upskill our workforce and drive ambition across the whole of the north – with stronger local leadership to tie it all together.
The north never wanted to be another London. We have our own unique economic strengths, complementary to those of the capital. We have a proud history in manufacturing, which Michael Gove has promised to revive, as well as a burgeoning green industrial revolution. More than half the country’s renewable energy is produced here, with our offshore wind turbines and other green energy sources powering homes and businesses across the south.
It’s time to end the north’s economic underperformance so we’re no longer forced to rely on London – and London can retain more of its success to address its own pockets of disadvantage. Even Westminster, with its leafy squares and smart buildings, has tough estates in need of help.
My message to the Prime Minister is this: London also needs Levelling Up – and if that makes the challenge for the rest of the country even more ambitious, all the better. We need to raise our standards everywhere.
It’s not about giving London a smaller piece of the pie – it’s about creating a bigger pie overall, in which more people across the country can share.
Today we’re standing shoulder to shoulder with the Centre of London and others to call for an end to competitive bidding for pots of money for regional economic development.
Instead of pitting us against each other, allocate funding based on need and devolve spending to our local leaders. They are the ones who can tailor policies to fit specific local needs: let’s trust them to get on with the job.
