North East business leaders have called on the Government to give the region a broad package of targetted support in next month’s Budget after warning that the area will be the hardest hit by the coronavirus pandemic.
The North East England Chamber of Commerce said the region was facing “unacceptable” gaps with the rest of the country even before the pandemic, adding that “Covid-19 has only worsened this situation, with the Government’s stated goal of ‘levelling up’ regions such as ours never seeming so important and urgent.”
The Chamber said that town and city centres in the region risk being “hollowed out” by a raft of store closures and that rising unemployment will become even worse when the Government’s furlough scheme comes to an end.
It has called for next month’s Budget to include an extension of the Job Retension Scheme and business rates relief, improved funding for training and major improvements to transport and digital infrastructure.
Also on its list of priorities is further devolution to local leaders and the moving of Government departments to the region, with Newcastle and Teesside thought to be competing to be the site for the Treasury’s planned Northern offices.
The Chamber has also made a number of demands over post-Brexit arrangements, saying that exporting businesses need support to overcome hurdles to overseas trade and adding that the lack of detail on the replacement of European funds that have proved crucial to the region’s economy is “staggering”.
Jonathon Walker, the Chamber’s director of policy, said: “Our mission is not just to repair the damage done to our economy in recent months. It is to come back stronger. We must correct historic unfairness, tackle inequalities and show the world our full capability.
“The right investment in our region by Government and businesses alike will deliver huge social and economic returns.”
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The North East went into the pandemic with the highest level of unemployment in the 海角视频, and though it has been overtaken by London in the most recent figures, the jobs gap with the rest of the country has widened in the pandemic.
The region has been under lockdown restrictions more than any other part of the country during the pandemic, and the Chamber says this has especially hit businesses in the retail, leisure, hospitality, culture and travel industries.
A £2.8bn package funding package to help the region recover from the pandemic has been put together by the North East LEP, working with business leaders and other bodies. The plan envisages major investment in the green economy, spending on digital and transport infrastructure, and increased funding for education in the North East.
The Chamber’s submission comes a month before the Budget, with Chancellor Rishi Sunak having to balance pleas for investment in regions like the North East with a need to bring down spending after his multibillion-pound package of support for businesses and families during the pandemic.