Senior Cornwall Council officer says Government must continue with Levelling Up to tackle inequality
An economic statement is lined up for Monday
A senior Cornwall Council officer has said he is “nervous” that Government plans to cut public spending could mean less funding for Levelling Up to help areas like Cornwall and that another period of austerity could hamper efforts to address inequality across the country.
Matt Barton, head of strategy and localism at Cornwall Council, made the comments in an online panel discussion on the future of Levelling Up – a scheme launched by former Prime Minister Boris Johnson with the aim of boosting economic development across the country.
Mr Barton, who has been a key part of Cornwall Council’s strategy and policy development as well as leading the council’s bids to secure funding and a devolution deal, was taking part in the conversation on Friday alongside others from local government and academics.
With the conference taking place just 24 hours after Liz Truss announced her resignation as Prime Minister the panel was in a flux of uncertainty not only about Levelling Up but the future approach of the next Government to lead the country.
Mr Barton said: “This political instability can really threaten to derail what we have achieved on Cornwall’s ambitions over the last 13 years.”
He added: “It is difficult to predict what is going to happen over the course of the next few months, nevermind the next few days or minutes for that matter. Is Levelling Up here to stay? I sincerely hope so, Levelling Up must have a future in Government policy and that is not just over the short term.”
Mr Barton said that Levelling Up was essential to ensure that inequality across different parts of the country could be addressed and help those areas which experience deprivation and have struggling economies continue to develop. He said that whilst the Government appeared to want to address that inequality it also needed to provide money to help address it and that “we need more than words”.
But he acknowledged that in the current economic climate and talk in Westminster of cuts to public spending “we can’t take anything for granted at the moment”. He said that it was “really hard” for local authorities “constantly being buffeted by political waves and turmoil”.
Mr Barton said that Cornwall Council was still aiming to achieve its long term vision for 2050 which was published in 2020. “We are still pointing in that direction to tackle regional inequality but actually doing that at local level as well. It is about creating a cleaner, greener Cornwall and certainly more inclusive Cornwall.”
He told delegates that there was a need to tackle inequality within Cornwall as well, highlighting that some areas were more prosperous than others. On that basis there was a need for Levelling Up within Cornwall as well as Levelling Up with the rest of the country.
However, he said that one difficulty was “the constantly chasing of money that is available from the Government” and that Cornwall Council had made a case for a single pot of funding being made available to cover all the Government funding which could be allocated to Cornwall – including the Shared Prosperity funding, Town Deals and Levelling Up funding.
He said that it was difficult for councils to chase money and constantly having to put applications together in the hope of getting some funding from the Government, highlighting that one recent bid for Investment Zones had to be completed within a fortnight.
Mr Barton highlighted that Cornwall was set to get £132million from the Shared Prosperity Fund, subject to sign off from the Government, along with £90m from the Towns Fund.
The council officer has also been leading on Cornwall Council’s bid to secure further devolution from Whitehall and negotiating a new County Deal. The council wants to get the top Level Three deal, which comes with the requirement of a change in governance and a directly elected Mayor.
It has proved to be a controversial issue with a petition and campaign set up to allow Cornwall residents to have a referendum on whether to have a directly elected mayor. Cornwall Council and Cornwall’s MPs also went to Liz Truss, when she came into office as Prime Minister, to ask whether Cornwall Council have a Level Three deal without a mayor – a request she denied. It is unclear whether the council will now go back to new PM Rishi Sunak with that same request.
Mr Barton said that the council had “absolutely welcomed” the white paper in February which invited Cornwall to draw up a new county deal to get more powers, responsibilities and, hopefully, funding. But he said that since then it had blown on and off course and admitted that “it has been really difficult to keep motivation during that time”.
He said that “until July we were making really good progress”. “What we had at that stage, before the disintegration of Boris Johnson’s Cabinet, was a really ambitious, great deal for Cornwall. As a result of what has happened since it has been diluted.”
Mr Barton said that it had been hoped that in the last few weeks the issue would get back on course, but said there was “a degree of frustration in Cornwall” about the current situation.
Commenting on the requirement for a directly elected mayor he said that it was difficult for the council to argue the case for a mayor without being able to explain to people what Cornwall would get in return “there is a vacuum as the deal remains confidential”.
However, on the wider question about Levelling Up Mr Barton said he was “nervous” and there was concern that as the Government reviews its spending plans against the backdrop of a need to plug huge financial holes it might have to reduce the amount of spending provided to regional areas.
Most recent Chancellor Jeremy Hunt indicated that all spending would have to be looked at as the Treasury would have to tackle issues in the finances of the country. However with former chancellor Rishi Sunak now set to enter Number 10 that approach could change.
On Friday Mr Barton said that some Levelling Up opportunities could be “stymied by a Government that can’t afford to invest in Levelling Up over the next few years and heralds another decade of austerity and widen and deepen the inequality that exists in regional areas like Cornwall”.
Mr Barton said he was “exasperated” adding: “It has been snatched from our grasp because of the failures in London which is exceedingly unhelpful.”
He added: “I am known as one of the most optimistic of officers here but even my levels of optimism have been muted over the last few weeks and last 24 hours. I sincerely hope that Levelling Up will continue. Tackling inequality in the regions needs to happen.”
With Rishi Sunak now confirmed to be the next Prime Minister the country will have to wait and see as to whether he continues with Mr Hunt’s approach or forges his own path.