Deputy chairman of the European Research Group and MP David Jones teamed up with Tory MP Imran Ahmad Khan and Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen and they urged the Prime Minister to make a commitment “to levelling up Northern Britain” in the Government’s upcoming budget. The MPs and mayor also said the Government should use the opportunity to try and “strengthen our Union”. And they stressed the need to “narrow the division” between the north and south of England.
Writing in the Daily Telegraph, they said: “As a former Secretary of State for Wales, a Northern Metro Mayor and a Member of Parliament for a key Red Wall seat, we believe we are well placed to plot a path out of the pandemic.
“This path will see us grasp the benefits of leaving the EU and work to narrow division between the North and South, as well as metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas.”
He then pointed to the coronavirus pandemic as emphasising these divisions.
He added: “These divisions have been laid bare by the current crisis.
“Not only have many areas of Wales, Scotland, and the North of England been hit harder by this crisis than the rest of the country, but we have also been in lockdown for longer.”
Highlighting the contrast between the regions of the UK, the former Secretary of State for Wales said: “The UK already has a 19-year healthy lifespan differential between the richest areas of the South and the poorest in the North.
“That figure is likely to be exacerbated by the higher death and infection rates of Covid in the North.”
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The MPs and mayor then urged the Treasury to “kickstart our Northern Economy, by hitting the fast-forward button on Northern infrastructure”.
They urged the Prime Minister to invest in “cross-border connectivity to support significant existing economic geographies in the Borderlands and corridors linking the North of England and Wales”.
The group also suggested the Government to move the “Treasury North Campus to Teesside”.
Earlier was announced Chancellor Rishi Sunak is proposing a new northern campus for the Treasury.
They also suggest the Government move significant parts of the civil service out of London.
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Mr Khan and the two Tory MPs said that this move, “must include the most senior of roles, up to and including Permanent Secretaries”.
They added that “these moves should default to non-metropolitan areas of the North”.
The MPs and Tee Valley mayor said that these changes would “build back a better Britain” after the consequences of the coronavirus pandemic.
Speaking about the coronavirus crisis, they added: ” At the last election voters across the North of Britain voted for change.
“No one could have predicted this crisis.”
