Regional rebalancing

Primary research into the challenges facing local decision-makers across the North of England.

The research began shortly after Boris Johnson announced his intention to resign as Prime Minister in early July. It concluded in late August with the arrival of a new Prime Minister in Number 10 facing continued domestic political uncertainty, an escalating cost-of-living crisis, a steadily darkening economic prognosis and the ongoing war in the East.

These issues seemed to push levelling up down the political agenda. However, while the research reveals that appetite for the term ‘levelling up’ itself has waned, it also shows that the importance of the principle behind it has not. Understanding the challenges and issues facing leaders in the North is, in the current climate, arguably more important and relevant than ever.

And what is AtkinsRéalis’ interest in all this? At AtkinsRéalis we wholeheartedly support the desire and ambition to address regional inequalities. And as a major engineering consultancy we work closely with local authorities and are well aware of the pressures they are under. With this research we wanted to understand better the challenges they are facing and the role of business and then to share our learnings with those with a similar interest in how this ambitious and, many would say, long overdue project, was shaping up.

The publication by the Government in February 2022 of its Levelling Up white paper was the trigger to commission an independent company to research four specific areas in the North:

Teesside
West Yorkshire
Liverpool City Region
An area we describe as “the M6 Corridor”, taking in Carlisle in the North and Crewe further South.

We wanted to talk to a hard-to-reach group of senior officials along with their political leaders and we were joined in our endeavours by two partners, the Northern Powerhouse Partnership (NPP) and Durham University. NPP is a natural partner given its long-standing involvement in levelling up and a close understanding of the issues and evolving priorities at a local level. Durham University, with its strong academic reputation and presence in the levelling up hotbed of the North-East, was also a natural participant. I want to thank both for their help in delivering the research and their contribution to this report. Both have also provided commentaries which reflect their own views on the research findings. The research threw up many issues and criticisms, many political, naturally enough.

As a business we will not comment on the political findings and issues in the report, leaving that to others. My hope is that the recent political and economic uncertainty will not impact the long-term commitment to major infrastructure investment and levelling up in general. The research also highlighted the role that business can play in delivering real change and tackling inequality in the North. Our colleagues at Durham University were particularly surprised at the positive response to business’s role and involvement and we welcome the willingness of many local decisionmakers to engage more fully and constructively with business. We make further comments and observations in our commentary section in the report.

Regional rebalancing

Richard Robinson