I recently heard someone talking about ‘levelling up the North’. I had to correct them: the government’s intention is to level up the whole country. What does levelling up mean for us here in the East of England, and in North Norfolk?
Well, it’s about recognising that the East is already an enormous success – we are one of only three UK regions to be ‘net contributors’ to the economy, ie. we produce more than the state invests in us. With more investment, we could sell the many things we’re good at doing, and producing, much more widely, providing more growth, more jobs, and more prosperity.
Look at what we have. We have a world-renowned centre of training and excellence in medicine at the University of East Anglia, plus the Norwich Biomedical Research Centre. We have opportunities for carers, nurses, doctors, and dentists to work in one of the most beautiful parts of the country.
1/3rd of the UK’s gas comes through Bacton, with countless new opportunities for jobs and research in new carbon net-zero technologies. The visitor economy of the East of England generates over £10bn a year. We have start-up and established companies producing everything from space rockets to filming locations and studio facilities for Netflix and Amazon.
What links all of this together is a very special quality that people in the East of England have. I believe we have more creative minds; more people willing to take risks; and more innovators in this part of the country than almost anywhere else.
So how do we harness what we have and make it even better? This is where the investment that levelling up will provide is so important. We know that we need better roads and public transport. We need homes that truly are ‘affordable’, so that our brightest minds can afford to live and work here, rather than leaving the area and going elsewhere. We need more investment in education and training – such as the highly successful apprenticeships and Restart schemes.
Now that the threat of Covid is beginning to recede and we can begin to look once again towards the future, my job – and that of all the East Anglian MPs – will be to remind everyone that levelling up isn’t just a Northern thing. We will expect - and demand - that the East of England and North Norfolk receive their fair share too. We’ve already seen that begin to happen with the huge government investment in North Walsham, and I will continue to advocate for the whole of North Norfolk to benefit in a similar way.
Duncan Baker
MP for North Norfolk
