At any other time - without Brexit, Covid, the war in Ukraine and the cost-of-living crisis - the Government鈥檚 Levelling Up agenda would surely be generating more headlines.
Improving regional economies to provide more opportunities for people living in places like the North East, while stopping London and the South East from overheating, is a prize that has eluded Governments for decades.
There has been a feeling among many that, like the Northern Powerhouse before it, levelling up was a good slogan but not much more - wheeled out by Ministers when anything positive happened in the North and used as a stick to beat them with when things went wrong.
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February鈥檚 Levelling Up White Paper at least added some substance to the soundbite, outlining 12 national 鈥渕issions鈥 that define levelling up and take in everything from local pride and the economy to skill levels, public transport and devolution.
Though delivered by Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove, the White Paper is generally regarded to be largely the work of Andy Haldane, former chief economist at the Bank of England who can claim North East roots through a Geordie mother and a father from Sunderland.
And in a recent talk at Sunderland Univerity, Mr Haldane revealed how his background in the North East had influenced his thinking on the 海角视频鈥檚 regional inequalities.
鈥淧laces like Sunderland are the reason why in the early 1980s, a time of deep entrenched recessions, when de-industrialisation was in its final throes: that was the point that made me want to study economics. That was reason why I went on to be a public servant for 32 years and that was the reason I took up Boris鈥 challenge last year to help out on Levelling Up. And there hasn鈥檛 actually been a single day of my working career when I wasn鈥檛 thinking of trying to improve the lot and expand the opportunity of places across the 海角视频, lots of places like Sunderland. That鈥檚 why this agenda is so important.鈥
In his lecture, Mr Haldane said the 海角视频 had deep and entrenched inequalities that were impossible to justify morally or economically. But he said that despite places like London having greater levels of pay and better health than places like the North East, people in the capital were often more unhappy, in part because of the effects of its overheating economy.
鈥淭he 海角视频鈥檚 spatial disparities don鈥檛 work for places for places doing poorly in pay terms or for those doing well,鈥 he said. 鈥淪o if we close those disparities, it will be a twin win - good news for those financially in poor shape and also for those in good financial shape but where everyone鈥檚 having a miserable time.鈥
Closing regional inequalities, he said, would be worth 鈥渢ens of billions of pounds each year on a permanent basis,鈥 adding: 鈥淭he size of the prize from levelling up, that two-sided win from shrinking differences across the 海角视频, is huge.鈥
But he said it was important to recognise that that gap had to be closed in a number of ways, hence the 12 missions in the White Paper.
鈥淚 would have loved it if I鈥檇 captured the levelling up mission in a single way but the truth is if you look at the key ingredients of success in a place they鈥檙e not single, they鈥檙e multiple. They鈥檙e economic and financial, they鈥檙e social and cultural, they鈥檙e about leadership. Each and every one of those is crucial in the recipe for success of a place.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 why when it came to defining what levelling up success might look like, we couldn鈥檛 go singular, we had to go plural, and that plurality was reflected in 12 levelling up missions.鈥
Mr Haldane rejected the main criticism that has met the Levelling Up White Paper since its publication, namely that it is strong on ambition but low on actual financial commitment from the Government. That evaluation has only been heightened by the recent Government Spring Statement, which made little reference to Levelling Up, but Mr Haldane believes much of the backing for his ambitions should not be coming from public sources anyway.
鈥淭he key here is not that the Government writes a cheque then walks away,鈥 he said. 鈥淭he key is provide just enough money to de-risk projects sufficiently to attract private finance. That鈥檚 the way you go about levelling up the 海角视频. There is a huge pool of private sector capital out there seeking returns. The returns are here. Connect that big pool of capital with local projects and great things will flow from that.
鈥淧eople say: 鈥楻ishi鈥檚 given you no new money.鈥 I don鈥檛 need new money. I鈥檓 hoping most of it will come from the private sector. That鈥檚 the secret sauce of levelling up success and that requires a different role from Government to one its played in the past.鈥
Whether Mr Haldane鈥檚 optimism for the Levelling Up agenda is bear fruit is yet to be seen. The Government has set a date of 2030 for its missions to be achieved, meaning at least two General Elections will be held before Ministers can be properly held accountable on them.
Last week the influential Institute for Government raised doubts over the abilities of programme to properly reduce regional inequality, however, saying that only four of the 12 missions are clear, ambitious and have appropriate metrics. The other eight all need to be recalibrated if they are to deliver on the government鈥檚 promises to level up the 海角视频.
It also argued five of the missions are not ambitious enough, meaning that little or no change would be needed to meet them, but three missions are too ambitious to be realistic.
Mr Haldane鈥檚 optimism on Levelling Up remains undimmed, however.
鈥淚f I鈥檓 even half right with my diagnosis, he said, 鈥渢his is just the moment for Sunderland to realise that latent energy and fulfill its potential, Then what has been my life鈥檚 work will have been fulfilled and I can retire a happy man.鈥
