The Chancellor is again being urged to back the South West as figures reveal the region receives some of the lowest levels of public spending in the country.
As Rishi Sunak gears up to make his Spending Review statement in the House of Commons, South West Business Council (SWBC) is urging him to help “level up” the West Country.
SWBC is pointing to the Government’s own data which shows than almost any area of the 海角视频.
New figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS), released in November 2020, showed that in 2019/20 the region received the second lowest identifiable expenditure, defined as for the particular benefit of a region, in the 海角视频, at £51.7billion, jointly with Yorkshire and Humber.
Only the East Midlands’ £42.9billion was below this figure. London accounted for £97billion of identifiable spend, the highest in England and 14% of the entire Treasury spending regionally.
When it comes to public spending per person, that equates to £9,193 for each person in the South West, below the 海角视频 average of £9,895.
Again the East Midlands (£8,879) is lower, as is the East (£8,991), and the South East (£8,919), although that area is heavily populated so its £81.9billion of spend is more diluted and has been rising, per head, in any case.
READ THE TREASURY'S COUNTRY AND REGIONAL ANALYSIS NOVEMBER 2020 REPORT
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Tim Jones, chair of SWBC said the Treasury’s figures are a good reason why Mr Sunak needs to “level up” the South West.
“The reasons why the South West needs to be a high priority in the levelling up agenda is illustrated by the fact that the Government spending per head of population means that the SW is near the bottom,” Mr Jones said.
He also stressed that productivity levels for the South West remain between 10-12% behind the 海角视频 average..
He said the reasons for this are a combination of factors including seasonality, lower value sectors in terms of GDP contributions, poor infrastructure, long supply chains, being a branch economy which means the region adds value to goods and services but has very little end to end production, low levels of investment in business, poor access to debt and equity finance, an increasingly ageing unproductive population,an ageing workforce which needs upskilling and a lack of young entrepreneurs.
“The biggest factors in this list are probably seasonality, access to growth capital, poor infrastructure and distance to capital markets,” he said. “For every 100 miles distance from London, productivity drops by 6%.”
The Treasury points out that its figures, which do not include public spending in relation to the coronavirus outbreak, is a statistical analysis and plays no part in resource allocation.
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It said most public spending is planned to benefit categories of individuals and enterprises irrespective of location.
Therefore the regional analysis shows where the individuals and enterprises that benefited from public spending were located, it said.
“It does not mean that all such spending was planned to benefit a particular region, because only a minority of public spending is planned on a regional basis,” the Treasury report said.
South West business organisations have already said they fear losing out to the north of England when Mr Sunak outlines the Government’s spending intentions for 2021-2022 in the House of Commons on Wednesday, November 25.
The South West wants more cash to pump into growing industries such as green energy and lithium mining, medical and advanced manufacturing, and boost the region’s digital connectivity.
But there are fears the region will be overlooked by the Tory administration and that its much vaunted “levelling up” agenda will prioritise the North where “red wall” Labour seats tumbled to the Conservatives in 2019.