Rayner sets out Labour’s plan to turbocharge growth in Britain’s northern heartlands

Speaking ahead of a speech to the Convention of the North in Leeds on Friday [1 March], Labour’s Deputy Leader accused the Conservatives of “crashing the economy and expecting the North to pay for it”.

The speech comes as new data obtained by Labour reveals that if Leeds were as productive as its French counterparts, it would bring an additional £13 billion to the economy per year.

A report by Centre of Cities shows that productivity growth – the key driver of higher wages – was poor across almost all cities. Nationally, average annual productivity increased at just 0.6 per cent in real terms between 2010-2021 – particularly sluggish compared to the average annual growth of 1.5 per cent seen between 1998-2010.

The same report showed that people are on average £10,200 worse off than if the economy had grown at its pre-2010 trajectory. In cities such as Burnley, Cambridge and Milton Keynes it’s more than £20,000.

Angela Rayner said that the Conservatives have for too long “underestimated the North” and “failed to give northern towns and cities the tools or opportunity to live up to their best potential.” 

Labour’s plans to “unleash the power of the North”, through a mission-driven government, include: 

1. Labour will give Northern leaders the tools they need to turbocharge growth: through an ambitious Take Back Control Act, we will give metro mayors in Greater Manchester, Liverpool, West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire and elsewhere the ability to take on integrated funding and new powers over skills, buses, housing, planning and more to boost local growth. 

2. Labour will make work pay across the North: our New Deal for working people will improve pay and conditions across the country, ban exploitative zero hours contracts, end fire and rehire and boost terms and conditions in adult social care with a Fair Pay Agreement. Our plans will particularly benefit workers in the everyday economy, which makes up more than two thirds of jobs in the North East (68 per cent) and Yorkshire and the Humber (67 per cent).

3. The North is essential to our plans to make Britain a clean energy superpower: our Green Prosperity Plan will decarbonise industry in Merseyside, Teesside and the Humber, create investment in the North West and North Wales renewable cluster, upgrade ports in the North East and protect thousands of good, clean steel jobs in Sheffield, Scunthorpe and Rotherham. Our plans will lead to more than 130,000 new jobs in the North alone.

4. Labour will deliver passenger focused, publicly owned rail for the North: in-line with our fiscal rules, we will deliver a credible and transformative programme of transport infrastructure investment, including building connectivity between Liverpool and Hull and across the North. Labour will bring our railways into public ownership when their contracts expire, creating a passenger focused network that delivers for local communities.

5. Labour will get the North building again: local leaders across the North are leading the way on housebuilding, not least in Leeds and Manchester. But national planning policy is holding us back and councils don’t have the support they need to deliver affordable and social housing. Labour will build 1.5 million houses across the country, unblock the planning system to get shovels in the ground for new infrastructure and build a new wave of affordable and social homes so the next generation has it better than the last.

Ahead of the conference, Angela Rayner MP, Labour’s Deputy Leader and Shadow Levelling Up Secretary, said: 

“For too long, the Tories have underestimated the North. It was the workers of the North who built the places we call home with their own hands. But under the Tories, the places that once built Britain get nothing by the crumbs from the table - and are told to be grateful for it. 

“Under a Labour government, it will be the bricklayers, the bus drivers and the mechanics that level up the North and give us our renaissance. But those workers and the North as a whole will have a voice. That means Mayors and council leaders at the table, and Ministers in every department making sure local voices are represented at the heart of government. 

“Labour’s Green Prosperity Plan will decarbonise industry in Merseyside, Teesside and the Humber, creating more than 130,000 new jobs in the North alone. We will deliver passenger focused, publicly owned rail for the North, including building connectivity between Liverpool and Hull and across the North. And we will be laser focused on kick-starting growth everywhere to raise living standards and fund strong public services across the country. As Deputy Prime Minister of the North, I will fight to the bitter end for its future.”

Ends

Notes: 

New data obtained by Labour reveals that if Leeds were as productive as its French counterparts, it would bring an additional £13bn to the economy [per year].

* Based on Lyon, Toulouse and Marseille average productivity gap of 25% with Paris

** converted into £ from US$ using OECD Purchasing Power Parities for 2015 (£1=$1.44)

Source: OECD.Stat, City statistics - economy

Productivity growth – the key driver of higher wages – was poor across almost all cities. Nationally, average annual productivity increased at just 0.6 per cent in real terms between 2010-2021 – particularly sluggish compared to the average annual growth of 1.5 per cent seen between 1998-2010https://www.centreforcities.org/publication/cities-outlook-2024/

Labour’s plans will particularly benefit workers in the everyday economy, which makes up more than two thirds of jobs in the North East (68 per cent) and Yorkshire and the Humber (67 per cent) https://neweconomics.org/2022/02/closing-the-divide