Saturday 12th October marks the first 100 days of the new Labour government’s landslide victory. This milestone, a tradition adopted from the US, has become a proxy indicator for how successful a new administration is likely to be over the course of its term.
It is something which the media will focus on in terms of tone and direction. Is the government on the front foot? Are they communicating a feel-good vision for the future?
Well, we know the past few months have not been pain sailing in this respect. Perhaps today’s welcome announcement that the UK economy has grown following two months of stagnation will provide a fair wind ahead of the government international investment summit and the Chancellor’s first budget.
In reality the first 100 days is a period in which a new government sets out its legislative agenda – the groundwork for what is to come, rather than what has actually been delivered.
In this respect the Government has made quick work of building on its ‘five missions’. The Kings Speech smoothly followed the manifesto commitments made during the election. The biggest announcements have centred on flagship policies like GB Energy, the National Wealth Fund, and Skills England.
But there has been considerable movement with planning reform with ambitious housing targets and the authorisation of solar farms and onshore wind, a successful offshore wind auction, the commissioning of a road map to 2030 from the new National Energy System Operator, and a recommitment for long-term support for carbon capture.
Place-based devolution has also started at pace with most local authorities in England now engaged in this process.
As a business-led mission-based organisation, the Eastern Powerhouse welcomes the approach of an entrepreneurial mission-based government.
We aim to promote the huge untapped potential in the East of England to drive national growth. This could not be more aligned with Labour’s ambition to have the highest growth in the G7 by the end of the parliament.
Businesses in the East are desperate for a new sense of economic purpose at the heart of government and Labour’s core mission to kick start the economy is instrumental in achieving a more prosperous future for all communities in the region.
In 3 days, the government will host a landmark Global Investment Summit, an ambitious programme to signal that the country is open to business and that ‘Growth’ is the priority.
The summit will look to redefine collaboration between the public and private sector, announcing commitments to further invest in UK markets and critical infrastructure as well as key domestic priorities.
We hope this can be the catalyst to activating inward investment opportunities here in the East and strengthen exporting our incredible local products and services around the world.
Looking forward to the upcoming budget we can reflect on how the powerhouse can work with government to Back the East.
We want to help realise our potential to deliver development in world leading industries, invest in vital infrastructure, develop a pipeline of skills, reform and devolve planning decisions and ultimately create the conditions for business growth. This should all sound fairly familiar, because it’s all part of the long-term objectives of this new government.
The alignment is clear, we believe in partnerships not individual interests, we believe in joined up policy not siloed thinking, we believe in amplification not replication and we believe the East should no longer struggle to raise its voice, it should be given the platform to shout about the amazing opportunities and be allowed to address our challenges.
The Prime Minister has stated “The five missions are instrumental in giving Britain back a renewed sense of pride and purpose”, therefore I want to specifically speak to the tangible policy areas in which the Eastern Powerhouse can support UK government, UK PLC and most importantly the people of the East. Beginning with the first mission.
Mission 1: Kickstart economic growth to secure the highest sustained growth in the G7.
This is the absolute foundation of the new government’s agenda – all successes will flow from improving economic growth – as we have long argued.
Labour wants to secure the highest sustained growth in the G7 – the world’s seven largest so-called “advanced” economies.
By its very nature this is incredibly ambitious but if the new government can kickstart productivity growth this will improve living standards in every part of the country, changing the short-term outlook and fixing the long-standing problems.
The East is one of the largest and most productive economies in the UK. It has the highest employment rate among all regions and nations and is one of only three regions that regularly makes a net contribution to the UK.
Generating more tax revenues than it receives in public funding. There is, however, huge untapped potential across the East.
The region has significant advantages in knowledge-based industries and world class research institutions that can help drive productive growth in the UK.
Widening access and opportunity to these industries is also vital to levelling up the stark disparities that exist across the East and ensuring that all parts of the region benefit from good growth. It’s clear that investing in growth in the East could provide necessary quick wins for this new government and a sizeable return for UK PLC.
We have a clear strategy – outlined in our Manifesto so I want to highlight the key areas of collaboration for this growth mission.
Modern industrial strategy
The East has key champions to which an industrial strategy for the region should provide the basis for much needed collaboration within and between different sectors including Life Sciences and Agritech and across different locations in the East (e.g. emerging Life Science clusters around the science parks in Greater Cambridge, Norwich, and Stevenage).
This is also an incredible opportunity to develop a pipeline of skills, especially in a heavily rural region.
Linking future skills to industrial strategy and priority growth sectors by investing in a regional skills observatory to identify and address skill shortages and skill gaps.
Take Back Control Act
Currently, over half of England is covered by one form of devolution deal. Most areas have agreed mayoral combined authority structures to which central government has gradually devolved some key policy levers like transport and skills.
The East of England currently has just one mayoral combined authority, covering Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, Norfolk and Suffolk deals have gone back to the drawing board, Essex are still considering a deal.
It’s so clear places with mayors have seen benefits that others without have missed out on, while some (Greater Manchester and the West Midlands) have broadened and deepened their devolution deals with additional powers and responsibilities over sub-regional policy.
The priority for this government is to boost growth in all regions and plans for devolution should therefore be central to this mission, this will grant our region the tools we need to develop realistic, long-term growth plans.
‘Build, Build, Build’ – Building more affordable homes and reforming the planning system
The East of England needs an approach to development that can meet the demand for housing, across all tenures. The property boom in Cambridge, and other parts of the region, has made housing unaffordable for many to either buy or rent.
This is forcing families and younger workers to live further away from the region’s main employment centres and engines of growth.
We need to meet the aspirations of home ownership and affordable rent in the private and social sector by delivering housing that supports economic growth across the East.
However, housing reform can’t be achieved without investment in vital infrastructure and utilities.
We must accelerate transport improvements beginning with the Ely Area Capacity Enhancement (EACE) programme, we need to make sure food and energy security is seen as national emergency, there is an urgent need to improve the supply and storage of water in the East.
The proposed new Lincolnshire and Fens reservoirs should be brought forward, and the new government should work with private and public funding partners to help deliver wider benefits from investments, which will help to accelerate action to address the challenges in the East.
Growth and Skills Levy
Skill levels vary across the East although the overall proportion of residents with higher-level qualifications (40%) is below the national average (43.5%). This places the East as a middling region for higher level skills.
For decades the East of England has suffered from chronic underinvestment in compulsory education. The region has had the lowest spending per pupil in England, much less than Inner London and way behind regions in the North of England.
The fragmented transport system is also a problem with students often having to make long and difficult journeys to get to school or college, or for apprentices to travel to work.
Employers in the region are struggling to recruit due to higher-than-average skill shortages while skills gaps among the existing workforce are also higher the national average, which is holding back productivity.
Skills programmes, including a reformed apprenticeship levy, all adult education budgets and the successor to the Single Programme Fund should be devolved to new combined authorities in the region.
This will enable a better match between the supply and demand for skills in the region.
Next week – Mission 2: Make Britain a clean energy superpower to cut bills, create jobs and deliver security with cheaper, zero-carbon electricity by 2030, accelerating to net zero.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Steven Lynch is executive director of Eastern Powerhouse. He describes it as “a business-led mission-based organisation, the Eastern Powerhouse welcomes the approach of an entrepreneurial mission-driven government.
“We aim to promote the huge untapped potential in the East of England to drive national growth. This could not be more aligned with Labour’s ambition to have the highest growth in the G7 by the end of the parliament.
“Businesses in the East are desperate for a new sense of economic purpose at the heart of government and Labour’s core mission to kick start the economy is instrumental in achieving a more prosperous future for all communities in the region”.
