Delighted to be part of annual Newcastle University debate on Northern Powerhouse and progress made

I was recently involved in an excellent and lively debate on the North-South, post-Brexit divide with Newcastle University and Res Publica. This is an annual Newcastle University event. The key points from the discussion were:

• SME-University collaboration  

• The skills gap 

• Devolution and double devolution  

• Metro-mayors 

• Transport infrastructure: HS2 and HS3 

• Productivity  

• The Northern Powerhouse  

Crucially, the conclusion of much of the discussion was that the efforts behind the Northern Powerhouse initiative is an ongoing processes rather than single events, and that silver bullets for the problem do not exist. 

There has been considerable progress since 2010: the Northern Powerhouse,cross-regional cooperation in health, tourism, transport and so on have been key levers and we are already seeing the green shoots of change. The greatest increase in the economically active population has been in the North East. The greatest increase in employment has been in the North East. 

But as the Chancellor Philip Hammond made very clear: we cannot rest on our laurels and we have a long way to go to solve the issue. There are political obstacles along the way: whilst the Greater Manchester area has embraced devolution and these forms of cooperation, integration and synergy, many other areas, including parts of the North East have so far backed off from embracing devolution. 

This is going to need cross business, government, academic, and local political cooperation and action but conversations have been and continue to be very positive. There was much optimism on this issue in the room, and I believe, quite rightly.

My i/v with the Chronicle: Why have 4 NE LAs backed out when labour led authorities everywhere else embrace devolution+ more power?

I met with Chronicle / Journal journalists this week and discussed my sadness that the 4 local authorities south of the Tyne have backed out of a devolution deal that would have given them power over everything from transport, to skills, to business development and more ability to grow jobs and growth in their area.
This is not a Labour / Conservative thing: why? Because the labour led authorities in Greater Manchester, Liverpool, Teesside, and 3 the labour led local authorities north of the Tyne have all pressed ahead with devolution, power, money and growth. They have embraced devolution. I wish the 4 local authorities south of the Tyne had not decided to walk away. But it is their decision. If I was partisan for Northumberland only, as a local MP, I would see this as an opportunity for residents North of the Tyne to get an advantage over those who live and work south of the Tyne.
I am certain this will happen in any event.
But it is a matter of sorrow that we cannot work together for the greater good.
But be under no illusion - this is very good news for Northumberland, Newcastle and North Tyneside.
My interview is here:
http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/councils-said-no-devolution-must-11979756

A North East Mayor and the devolution deal is crucial for the future prosperity of the North East

I am strong advocate of devolution and the opportunities are massive for the North East. But Gateshead has now decided - after having sign on the dotted line last year - to back out. It is a great shame. I would urge them to get back on board. Why does this matter? Because Teeside, Liverpool, Greater Manchester, and others have seen the massive benefits that devolution has to offer: control of transport, skills, business rates, job creation and so much more. This project will proceed without them but they would be the losers. Crucially the business community is heavily critical of the Gateshead decision.
The chronicle assessment is here: http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/devolution-everything-you-need-know-11082124

Good meeting with the Northern Farming and landowner group - broadband, forestry, jobs and farmers issues all discussed at recent meetingue

The NFLG does a great job representing a diverse community of farmers, food producers, foresters and more across Northumberland and the wider North East.

Their specific feedback and monthly updates are invaluable to anyone like myself who represents a diverse partly very rural community. I simply cannot meet every single farmer every single week and rely on organisations like the NFU and the NFLG to provide direct assistance and updates.

Two weeks ago I sat down and did a multitude of Any Questions with the group. As always I came away better informed and keen to help some more. The Journal came along to cover the event and their detailed report is here:
http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/business/farming/mp-guy-opperman-tackles-rural-10320793

Manchester is where Mayors + the Northern Powerhouse show the way for the North East

Manchester exudes the positivity that happens when a region embraces change, cooperation, a better together approach and integration of public services not a big fight amongst its neighbours.My views on this Northern Powerhouse project and its massive benefits for the North East are well known: see here for example: http://guyopperman.blogspot.co.uk/2015/09/liverpool-labour-mayor-and-conservative.html




But take this from the labour leader of Greater Manchester Council, Sir Richard Leese, after his trip 2 weeks ago to China with the chancellor:


"A few days in China doesn't half help put the relevance of the northern powerhouse concept into perspective. The North of England has around 15million residents, it's major cities, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle and Sheffield ( including their whole city region areas ) 10million. If you draw a triangle with Newcastle, Sheffield, and Liverpool as its corners, the land area covered is less than that by the cities of Beijing or Shanghai on their own. Chongqing's 30million people live in a city the size of Austria.

On the other hand, if you look at the economy of the North of England, at £290b per annum GVA, it is larger than that of Denmark or Sweden. Premier League football is a great door opener here, but though everybody seems to know about Manchester City and Manchester United, they don't in general know much more about our city, and we are pretty tiny compared to even medium size Chinese cities. If we succeed in getting the transport investment we want over the next ten to fifteen years to get the sort of connectivity that we want between the northern cities - connectivity that will help us create the virtual super city of the North, then as a virtual city of 10million people, a city bigger than London, we begin to register.

All five city Leaders have been here this week and we are finding that working together to promote economic opportunity across the North is getting a real return. So far we have presented to a number of high-level business audiences in Beijing and Shanghai, and this afternoon we will do so in Chengdu, a city of 12million plus in China's south west, and a part of China that continues to have double digit growth. 

I have regularly argued that Manchester's future, like its past, is as an international city, and to be that we have to promote ourselves internationally, both for trade and investment. Being here is already having an impact with major companies we have met here already seeking appointments to meet us in Manchester before I've even left. We've had a number of recent examples of Chinese investment in the city, the most recent relating to Middlewood Locks in Salford. There is plenty of room for a few more."

 

I also write this recent piece on this issue in the Newcastle Journal

 “The harsh reality is that whilst the North East squabbles the Labour-led local authorities of Greater Manchester, Yorkshire, Liverpool and elsewhere are pressing ahead and embracing the government’s offer of devolution.

Let us be clear: all the North East businesses, the North East Local Enterprise Partnership, North East Chamber of Commerce, and a multitude of other organisations see the force in uniting transport, health, and a large number of regional services, in an integrated manner, under the ultimate control of a directly-elected mayor. The mayor-led model has worked for London.

The only objectors are some or all of the 7 Local Authority county council leaders. Why?

There are only two possible explanations: either they wish to preserve their own fiefdoms and fear that someone from Gateshead, Sunderland or Newcastle might be in charge with the result that the mayor will not favour them / feather their nest as only they can; or they do not have aspirations for the wider North East?

I cannot believe that this is the case, because surely they accept that we are better together as a larger unit, competing as we are on the global scale and other larger regions.

Is this is a power struggle amongst the seven local authority leaders? I do not know.

But it smacks of the old story of ‘if Newcastle gets this then Sunderland must get a bridge’. This attitude is genuinely holding us back. I urge everyone to make the case for unity, for a mayor, for greater devolution and greater jobs and prosperity.”

"North East traditionalists need to open their minds to a new approach"-great article by Graham Robb

http://www.thejournal.co.uk/opinion/know-both-cameron-osborne-genuine-9274275

"So David Cameron confounded critics and pundits and won an overall majority. His new Conservative Government has already set about implementing its manifesto.
- Gone are the threats to business of higher taxes and more regulations.
- Gone are the threats to the economy of untrammelled public borrowing and never ending public debt.
- Gone too is the influence of the region’s Labour MPs if they foolishly decide on an obstructive, politically obsessed approach to dealing with the new Government.

Nick Brown MP had the tone right when he welcomed the appointment of North East MP James Wharton as the ‘Minister for the Northern Powerhouse’, albeit with the promise to scrutinise his performance.
It is a great truth in politics that an open hand achieves more than a clenched fist, and our region’s representatives need to work in tune with the realities of Government policy. It is a reality that more powers will be accompanied with new mayors; in coalition this pledge (which is not welcomed by many) might have been diluted but a majority Government is entitled to implement its manifesto. The consequences are that new mayors will disrupt existing and long-established political structures and it challenges the domination of Labour, but it is now up to us to make it work.
The pundits who doubted Cameron’s win are also wedded to the belief that he and Osborne are not sincere about helping the economy of the North. I know both men and they are genuine, each of them considering it a matter of personal integrity and professional pride that the economic gains of this recovery reach parts of the UK that other recoveries have not.
This ‘Heineken’ approach to spreading wealth requires smart and targeted devolution. It is true that the North West appears to be in the driving seat, but there is no reason that the North East shouldn’t hitch a ride."

The Weekend Read: Localism in Action locally and nationally - details on City Deals, Local Growth Deals, Devolution, the LA7 and more

Since 2010, the Coalition Government has undertaken the most radical programme of decentralisation within England in a generation. There are now five combined authorities, including our LA7 in the North East, 15 directly elected local authority mayors and plans for a Metro Mayor to be elected for Greater Manchester in 2017 - as enthusiastically endorsed by a Labour led Greater Manchester Council.

The Localism Act has moved significant powers away from Westminster to local areas and neighbourhoods.  It introduced local referendums on Council tax levels, the right for local communities to list local assets of value to the community and to take over local services where local people believed they could be run better. It also devolved planning functions from councils to local communities through the introduction of Neighbourhood Plans, approved by the local community in a referendum.

Almost 1,400 communities are now engaged at different stages of the neighbourhood planning process, giving millions of people the chance to participate in identifying, and voting on, where development takes place and what it looks like.

All 49 referendums held to date have resulted in substantial yes votes and these plans have significant weight in planning decisions. We expect the first 40 plans to reach examination to provide in the region of 10,000 new homes, as well as shaping their character and location.

This is local people going to meetings and taking part in decisions about their street or village which are then put into action. Rolled out further this will represent a quiet revolution in how planning decisions are made.

Local Growth deals are revolutionising the way our economy is run.  For the first time ever, infrastructure, housing, and other funding has been brought together, and put directly into the hands of local authorities and businesses to invest with their knowledge of what is needed in their area to maximise their potential economic growth.

This month the Government invested a further £1 billion in local growth deals on top of the extra £6 billion announced last year – http://nelep.co.uk/government-minister-brandon-lewis-visits-region-growth-deal-announced/

These deals are helping ensure young people receive training, creating thousands of new jobs, building thousands of new homes and involving hundreds of infrastructure projects; including transport improvements and superfast broadband networks.

The Devolution Journey of powers and finance to Scotland and the North East takes a big step today

Today in the House of Commons, MPs will debate the consequences of the Scottish devolution settlement agreed during the Scottish Referendum.
Along with those promises are the subsequent demands that England be treated equally. Within hours of the No vote being announced, David Cameron appeared in Downing Street to insist that English MPs alone should vote on English-only legislation. Now that the principle has been so firmly enunciated, there is no going back on it, just as there can be no retreat from what has been promised to Scotland. Where Labour are on this is still hard to see but I have met no one who does not agree it is mad to have devolution to the Scots but their MPs continue to vote on matters affecting Hexham and Halifax.

Indeed, the doctrine of English votes for English laws could well be reinforced in Parliament before Christmas, though in an ideal world Scots MPs would simply excuse themselves from voting on matters that did not concern them without being told to. All that is needed is a simple change in Parliamentary Standing Order 39 to make it clear that when designated English-only legislation is before the House then Scottish MPs would not be allowed to vote on it.
However, the House has acted swiftly and changed the government timetable so that the Scottish debate can get started and there is an airing of opinions as to the way ahead from lunchtime today.  The debate is from 1-7pm.

Regional Growth Funds, increased devolution + City Deals making a difference in the North East

Genuinely good results for the North East with over £370 Million announced recently.
Some of the cash will fund a direct link from Newcastle Station to the Stephenson Quarter regeneration site and refurbishment of Newcastle Central Metro Station. Durham City will also benefit from £6.3m towards the proposed Western Relief Road.
Leader of Newcastle Council, Coun Nick Forbes, who has responsibility for transport issues on the NELEP board, said: “North East councils have presented a compelling case to Government for greater transport investment which is reflected in today’s announcement. It underlines the benefits of working together in the interests of the wider region. This investment is an encouraging start towards our goal of improving our strategic transport network, and improving connectivity across our region.”
Bear in mind Nick is diehard Labour - looks like the government is doing something right.