Earlier this week, a Westminster Hall Debate was held on Levelling Up in the East of England. Levelling up is designed to address the longstanding problem of the UK’s regional economic disparities.
Richard's contribution can be watched here. The full debate can read here.
Speaking after the debate, Richard Fuller, MP for North East Bedfordshire, said:
I voiced my concerns that in the agenda of levelling up, the East of England including Bedfordshire, could be seen as an area where more houses can be built and more tax revenues derived to be spent elsewhere in the country.
Peter Aldous MP, who put forward this debate, agreed with my observations and repeated the message that I have continually pushed, namely that any new house building must be matched by a commensurate investment in infrastructure and the provision of essential services.
Levelling up is designed to address the longstanding problem of the UK’s regional economic disparities – the 2020 Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) Green Budget included a chapter on levelling up, which identified the following characteristics of areas most in need of levelling up:
A ‘left-behind’ area, in need of ‘levelling up’, is characterised by broad economic underperformance, which manifests itself in low pay and employment, leading to lower living standards in that area. Behind these factors lie other considerations such as poor productivity, which in turn may be associated with a low skill base. The health of the population may also be relatively poor: in some cases, this could be a legacy of deindustrialisation or long-term unemployment, as well as deep-rooted socio-economic issues.
