Michael Gove grilled by Andrew Neil on Boris Johnson
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The Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities has vowed to revitalise struggling towns in the North and Midlands in what he claims will be a shift “away from Whitehall”. Mr Gove is poised to release the Government’s Levelling Up White Paper on Wednesday. This is a decade-long plan to bring a boost to these areas, many of which are in the “Red Wall”.
These are key seats in the North of Britain which are traditionally considered Labour heartlands.
But the Conservatives snatched these seats from Labour in the 2019 election.
What looks to be an important part of the levelling that plan is the ramping up of research and development (R&D).
Mr Gove has made a commitment to boost spending in this area to support scientists, researchers and innovators who are not from London or the South East.
This imbalance has long been considered an issue in desperate need of addressing to sort out regional indifferences.
This is important because R&D spending is crucial for innovation, which in turn creates high paid jobs.
Nesta, a research group promoting innovation in the UK, has argued that the UK’s R&D intensity is too low and needs boosting.
Back in May 2020, the organisation published a paper highlighting the regional imbalance.
Researchers Tom Forth and Richard A.L. Jones wrote that if the Government were to spend as much in the rest of the country as it does in the wider South East of England, it would spend £4 billion more.
The paper also noted that Wales, Yorkshire and the Humber, and North East England are all areas with particularly low R&D intensities.
Whereas three cities, London, Oxford and Cambridge, account for 46 percent of public and charitable R&D in the UK.
But now, Mr Gove appears to be taking a look at this.
He has promised to deliver “billions of pounds of investment that can turbo-charge growth in the North and Midlands”.
And It comes after the Government committed to boosting R&D spending to £20billion a year in 2024-2025.
But this is £2billion less than originally earmarked by the Conservatives, who promised to reach £22billion after Brexit.
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Instead, Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced in the autumn budget that the £22million target would not be reached until 2026-2027.
Shadow Science Minister Chi Onwurah Express.co.uk her thoughts about Mr Sunak’s budget.
Not only was she appalled by Mr Sunak’s cut, but she said Labour would do better to tip the regional R&D imbalance.
She said: “We (Labour) would get much better at building private sector investment across our country, not simply investing in the southeast so we would be investing in regions as engines of growth in science.”
Labour’s Shadow Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Lisa Nandy, has said: “The places that used to power our country have only got the crumbs from the table.
“That has created huge inequalities which Labour will focus on fixing.”
But the Tories now appear to be focused on fixing that too.
Mr Gove said: “The further you are from one of our great capitals – whether it’s London, Edinburgh, Cardiff or Belfast – the tougher life can be.
“That has to change. We need to tackle, and reverse, the inequality that is limiting so many horizons, and which also harms our economy.”
This comes as Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s popularity has been slashed over “Partygate” scandals that broke his own Covid rules.
And worryingly for Mr Johnson, many of the Red Wall MPs have appeared to be rebelling against him, with fears of a no confidence vote soaring.
Mr Johnson will be hoping Mr Gove’s levelling up plan can win back the Tory rebels and make his position as leader stable again.
And R&D is far from the only area which is being addressed in the levelling up plan.
Mr Gove said: “Levelling up is, however, about much more than just addressing economic inequality by backing British business.
“It’s also about shifting power closer to local people and setting ambitious missions to improve schools, life expectancy, scientific innovation, home ownership and other vital areas of our common life.”
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