LEVELLING UP
The coronavirus crisis has only made the case for levelling up stronger so we can get the economy moving in areas that are less well off. Our new Taskforce will be spearheading this vital agenda.
Neil O'Brien OBE MP
This report was the first serious attempt to explore how to measure progress on levelling up. It was launched alongside the creation of a new Parliamentary group, the Levelling Up Taskforce, to campaign for policy change on levelling up.
The report looks at how government can best measure progress on levelling up, and examines how the economy has been performing in different parts of the country over recent decades. It reveals that:
Given that different indicators can suggest quite different things, Government should track a wide range of measures including productivity and overall income. However, if policy has to focus on a couple of measures, earnings and employment rates should be key because they allow for analysis of smaller areas than productivity or income, because of the way the data is produced. They are also more timely.
The report proposes that government should produce geographical analysis of all budgets and fiscal events, setting out the different impact that tax and spending changes will have on different areas. It argues the Treasury’s Labour Markets and Distributional Analysis unit should have geographical analysis added to its remit.
Given that different indicators can suggest quite different things, Government should track a wide range of measures including productivity and overall income. However, if policy has to focus on a couple of measures, earnings and employment rates should be key because they allow for analysis of smaller areas than productivity or income, because of the way the data is produced. They are also more timely.
The report proposes that government should produce geographical analysis of all budgets and fiscal events, setting out the different impact that tax and spending changes will have on different areas. It argues the Treasury’s Labour Markets and Distributional Analysis unit should have geographical analysis added to its remit.
Our work on the UK’s regional disparities has been the engine behind the levelling up agenda. This programme focuses on bridging the UK’s longstanding spatial inequalities and bringing economic opportunity to places which have lagged behind for too long.
Find out more about our Levelling Up programme.
Your contribution will help fund cutting edge research to make the country a better place.
Support Onward with a donation