Go Big – Go Local: The UK2070 Report on a New Deal for Levelling Up the United Kingdom

The UK2070 Commission has today (October 1st 2020) found that COVID-19 has increased the urgency for a comprehensive, large scale plan to level the UK economy. In a follow up report to Make No Little Plans – Acting At Scale For A Fairer And Stronger Future – which found that the UK is the most unequal large country in the developed world – the UK2070 Commission has now found that the pandemic has exposed the UK’s economic dependency on London and the Wider South East. Only a balanced growth plan is likely to deliver greater prosperity without damaging environmental and social consequences.

The UK2070 Commission has prepared a post-COVID Action Plan setting out the priorities for action over the next ten years. Learning the lessons from the COVID-19 response, it proposes a major programme of investment in transport, skills and the advanced economy; coupled with a radical devolution of powers; and funding from Whitehall.

The Right Honourable The Lord Kerslake, Chair of the UK2070 Commission and former Head of the Civil Service, said:

“Our new post-COVID Action Plan sets out a proposed programme of action which unlocks capacity and delivers action at scale through local democratic leadership. We are calling on the Government to Go Big – Go Local.”

“We’re saying what is missing is a clear plan setting out the scale and form of levelling up, the actions required to deliver it, and measures and milestones to success.”

“COVID-19 may have changed the path to delivery of levelling up, but not its urgency and importance. The temptation of the government will be to rein in their ambitions and spending. This would be a serious error. To have any meaningful impact, what is needed now is a New Deal for Levelling Up.”

To read Go Big – Go Local: A New Deal for Levelling Up the United Kingdom in full, please click here.

Declaration of Intent: The Final Report of the UK2070 Commission: Make No Little Plans – Acting At Scale For A Fairer And Stronger Future

The UK2070 Commission issued its Final Report Make No Little Plans – Acting At Scale For A Fairer And Stronger Future and an Executive Summary of the Report on Thursday 27th February 2020. Alongside our Final Report, the UK2070 Commission calls upon Government, local leaders and all parties to sign up to this Declaration of Intent and start now with urgency to implement the programme of action for creating a fairer, stronger and more sustainable future for the whole of the UK.

To read the Declaration of Intent in full, please click here.

Executive Summary:The Final Report of the UK2070 Commission: Make No Little Plans – Acting At Scale For A Fairer And Stronger Future

The UK2070 Commission issued its Final Report Make No Little Plans – Acting At Scale For A Fairer And Stronger Future and an Executive Summary of the Report on Thursday 27th February 2020, with Commission chair Lord Kerslake, the former Head of the Home Civil Service, warning Government that it must “go big or go home” if it is to arrest further economic decline and social division.

Lord Kerslake said: “The Government’s desire to level up the UK economy is welcome. However, the scale of the challenge we face is such that we need a generational shift if we are to avoid serious decline and division. Many people in Britain feel left behind by growth elsewhere and that has contributed to an acrimonious debate about Europe. We now face a decade of potential disruption – leaving the European Union, confronting the impact of climate change and adjusting to the fourth industrial revolution.

“Our research shows clearly that these inequalities did not grow up overnight. They reflect an over-centralised system that fails to comprehend the reality of regional need and consistently comes up with policies that are either under-resourced, too fragmented, or too short-lived to make a difference. Some policy guidelines have actively stacked the odds against the regions. Time is not on our side and we cannot afford to keep on repeating those mistakes. Government must therefore think big, plan big and act at scale. Bluntly, if it can’t go big, it should go home.”

To read the Executive Summary, please click here, or alternatively please scroll down to read the Main Report.

The Final Report of the UK2070 Commission: Make No Little Plans – Acting At Scale For A Fairer And Stronger Future

The UK2070 Commission issued its Final Report Make No Little Plans – Acting At Scale For A Fairer And Stronger Future on Thursday 27th February 2020. The UK2070 Commission calls on Government to stand alongside business and community organisations and make a public pledge to tackle inequality through a 10-point programme contained within the Final Report. Amongst these are:

  • Tripling the new Shared Prosperity Fund to £15bn per annum and continuing that commitment for 20 years – an extra expenditure of £200bn over that already planned.
  • Investing in a new connectivity revolution, transforming the connections between cities, within cities and beyond cities to poorly connected towns. Infrastructure investment needs to increase to at least 3% of GDP per annum.
  • Creating new ‘Networks of Excellence” in regional Research and Development to match the ‘Golden Triangle’ of London, Oxford and Cambridge.
  • Shifting power and funding away from Westminster and Whitehall through a radical programme of devolution.
  • Strengthening the local economies in disadvantaged towns.
  • Tackling the historic underperformance of the UK on skills.

To read our Final Report in full, please click here.

Executive Summary: The Second Report of the UK2070 Commission: Moving Up The Gears – Seven National Priorities for Action

The UK2070 Commission, which is chaired by the former head of the Civil Service, Lord Kerslake, says deep-rooted economic divides across the UK will worsen unless government addresses strategic failings in regional policy which stretch back 50 years. The Commission reported earlier this year that London’s global success was contrasted elsewhere in the UK with some of the worst inequalities in Europe, with stop-start regional policy failing to tackle problems that have led to economic under-performance and lower healthy life expectancy.

Our Second Report, which is released today [20 September 2019], says government must urgently develop a long-term vision for the UK which decisively addresses deprivation, unlocks regional economic potential and confronts the challenges presented by  climate change and new technologies. The UK2070 Commission has identified seven national priorities for action which we believe are vital if worsening performance and widening divisions between different parts of the UK are to be avoided.

To read the Executive Summary, please click here, or alternatively please scroll down to read the Main Report.

The Second Report of the UK2070 Commission: Moving Up The Gears – Seven National Priorities for Action

The UK2070 Commission has today published our Second Report Moving Up The Gears – Seven National Prioroties for Action in which we have made a series of detailed recommendations intended to rebalance the UK economy, whilst sustaining the performance of London and the South East. Those recommendations are in summary:

1] Climate Change: protect disadvantaged communities who are most at risk from its impact and use the market opportunities created by a move to a carbon zero economy to rebalance our economic geography.
2] Deliver a 20-year connectivity revolution: commit to renewing and extending out-dated transport infrastructure so that it reflects the present economy rather than the past; reconnect marginalised communities and shift towards shared transport and new technologies.
3] Create a global centre of excellence in industrial digital technologies: bring Britain’s leading regional universities together to power-up technologies that have the capacity to create 20,000 businesses, increase economic value by £1.2bn a year and upskill a million industrial workers.
4] Strengthen the foundations of local economies: provide higher quality advice for SMEs delivering local, everyday services; put refocused Further Education at the heart of a refreshed skills agenda; introduce universal standards to ensure adequate local services, particularly in marginalised communities.
5] Accelerate devolution: devolve decisions about regional economies to all regions, not just those with government-sanctioned deals; introduce Parliamentary Committees and Cabinet positions which recognise and respond to the Powerhouses of the North, Midlands, South West and South East.
6] A plan for England: introduce a spatial plan for England setting out explicit, funded priorities for coordinated, connected development which supports the UK’s global role whilst addressing regional inequalities.
7] Level the playing field for funding: on top of a £250bn UK Renewal Fund outlined in the Commission’s first report, introduce a regional investment bank network; change Treasury investment rules so that they accommodate regional variations and help rebalance the economy according to the long-term vision.

To read our Second Report in full, please click here.

Executive Summary: The First Report of the UK2070 Commission: Fairer and Stronger – Rebalancing the UK Economy

Ahead of our National Symposium on Thursday 13th June 2019 at Leeds Civic Hall, the UK2070 has published The First Report of the UK2070 Commission: Fairer and Stronger – Rebalancing the UK Economy.

Our First Report states that the regional inequalities which blight economic performance and life-chances in the UK may become significantly worse unless drastic action is taken.

Whilst London and the South East of England confront increasing pressures on living costs and resources as they soak up most of the UK’s job growth and productivity, our report argues that many people and businesses outside of these areas are likely to miss out on the benefits of growth.

Our report estimates that more than half of the new jobs will go to London and the South East, when it makes up just over a third of the population.

If you like to register your attendance at our National Symposium, then please email your contact details to UK2070Commission@turntown.com.

To read the Executive Summary, please click here.

The First Report of the UK2070 Commission: Fairer and Stronger – Rebalancing the UK Economy

Ahead of our National Symposium on Thursday 13th June 2019 at Leeds Civic Hall, the UK2070 has published The First Report of the UK2070 Commission: Fairer and Stronger – Rebalancing the UK Economy.

To tackle regional inequality, the UK2070 Commission proposes:

  • Much greater devolution of powers and funding, including the creation of four new ‘super regional’ economic development agencies.
  • A spatial plan to guide the future development of the whole of the UK.
  • Action to harness new technologies and strengthen local economies.
  • Long-term investment through a new National Renewal Fund which would rebalance the economy over a 25-year period.

If you like to register your attendance at our National Symposium, then please email your contact details to UK2070Commission@turntown.com.

To read our First Report in full, please click here.

Call For Evidence

The work of the UK2070 Commission is being informed by the communications we received through our Call for Evidence which closed on the 16 November 2018. Policymakers, politicians, and the general public were asked to submit evidence or opinions on the future of city and regional development in the UK – evidence was sought on the nature, causes and solutions to the embedded spatial inequalities across the UK. If you have missed the Call For Evidence deadline, but still would like to get in touch, contributing can be done in a variety of ways, as indicated below:

Responses may be emailed to:
uk2070@sheffield.ac.uk

Hard copies can be sent to:
The UK2070 Commisson,
c/o Department of Urban Studies and Planning,
University of Sheffield,
Sheffield,
S10 2TN

Full Prospectus

We have published two prospectuses, of which this is the full 12 page version, however a summary prospectus of 4 pages is also available below.

The full prospectus details: the goals of the Commission; the context of the Commission; the activities of the Commission; our programme timetable and outputs; the commitments of our partners and the membership both of the Commission and of the Commission’s Steering Group.

Summary Prospectus

As detailed above, this is a 4 page summary of our full prospectus. It also outlines the partnership of organisations which have come together to form the UK2070 Commission; the background context of the Commission; our activities and a brief biography of each of the Commissioners.