MAYOR AND LEP CHAIR CALL FOR LEVELLING UP COMMITMENT AT SPENDING REVIEW

Published 24 November 2020 at 11:21am

Ahead of the Spending Review, Sheffield City Region Mayor Dan Jarvis said:

“Tomorrow the Government has an opportunity to show its commitment to the levelling up agenda in more than just words.

“The unprecedented economic crisis caused by the pandemic has disproportionally hit the North and the brutal reality is that we are now on course for levelling down, not levelling up.

“We need an extension or successor to the Local Growth Fund, and we need a Shared Prosperity Fund that replaces EU funds and directs them to the most deprived parts of the country.  But replacing those two funding sources is only enough to leave us standing still. To deliver the levelling up change this government has promised, we need long-term investment on a much greater scale.

“The Spending Review must give metro Mayors the certainty and clarity we need to deliver our plans for people, places and businesses. This is not a time for tinkering: we need a true transformation to level up the North.”

The Chair of the Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership, James Muir, said:

“Our businesses community stands together, and is ready to play a vital role in levelling up and delivering a stronger, greener, fairer recovery for the region. We believe that this region can be a catalyst for growth in the North but, to make this happen, we need Government to invest in the Sheffield City Region Mayoral Combined Authority’s submission to the one-year Spending Review settlement.”

Picture taken before coronavirus restrictions and social distancing.