Tuesday, September 15, 2020

News: MP joins “Levelling Up Taskforce”

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Local Rother Valley MP, Alexander Stafford, recently helped to launch the "Levelling Up Taskforce", an initiative spearheaded by Conservative MPs.

The Levelling Up Taskforce will champion ideas to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to make the best of their talents, no matter where they are from. It will work with the thinktank Onward, whose major programme of research on Levelling Up launched in March.

Onward also published the group's first report, titled: "​Measuring up for levelling up."

The report looks at the strengths and weaknesses of different possible measures of progress on levelling up. It recommends that the government carry out geographical analysis of all budgets and fiscal events, setting out the different impacts that specific tax and spending changes will have on different areas. It further recommends that the Treasury's Labour Markets and Distributional Analysis Unit should have geographical analysis added to its remit.

Left behind neighbourhoods are communities that suffer from a combination of social and economic deprivation, poor connectivity, lack of infrastructure and low levels of community engagement.

The Local Trust and APPG "Communities at risk" research report identified 225 "left behind" neighbourhoods across England, up from 206 last year. 28 of these left behind wards are found across Yorkshire and the Humber, which with already pre-existing socio-economic deprivation prior to the pandemic, are suffering more from the economic, social and health impacts of COVID than other areas.

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Alexander Stafford MP is dedicated to championing hyper-local initiatives within his constituency to level-up socio-economic outcomes across Rother Valley.

The Levelling Up Taskforce will be producing a regular newsletter charting progress on levelling up and producing further publications on ways to spread opportunity and boost growth in poorer areas.

Alexander Stafford MP said: "When I was elected last December, I promised that Rother Valley would not be forgotten and have its voice heard at the highest level.

"The levelling up agenda has very strong support in constituencies like mine and I am keen to push forward this message as part of this vital group to help drive forward progress.

"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. There is a lot of untapped potential in parts of our country that have felt left behind for a long time. Now is the time to really hammer forward with the levelling up agenda."

Images: Alexander Stafford

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