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  • Now we have a plan from the Mayoral authority

    Interim North East Local Growth Plan

    ‘https://www.northeast-ca.gov.uk/local-growth-plan

    The North East Combined Authority under the “leadership” of Kim McGuiness (whose face now adorns what seems to be a sort of logo for the authority – see above) – has published its Interim North East Local Growth Plan – Interim because a final version will be published after the Labour government’s spending review. Well, we now know what that has done. McGuiness is big on opposing child poverty, a domain of policy over which she has no powers whatsoever. The spending review has just added another quarter of a million children to relative poverty to join the nearly 2.5 million already there.  Reeves’ economic policies will have Keynes spinning in his grave. Cutting benefits and public sector employment will reduce aggregate demand in a recession! All this by a government of “Labour”, a party to which McGuiness owes her position by an unblemished record of servile adherence. It is interesting to note who were the “partners” involved in the preparation of the plan – business (OK), education (if VCs and College Principals pretty useless), the Voluntary Sector (largely dependent on grant income and guaranteed not to rock the boat), and the Community Sector – what is this and who selected its representatives? The very notable absence is Trade Unions – not even the regional TUC. What do they donate to the Labour Party for – to be treated with contempt by a nitwit like McGuiness and her allies?  The Voluntary and Community Sectors do not speak for Civil Society but who does?

    There are elements of good sense in parts of this Plan in relation to the support and development of industrial sectors in green energy, biosciences and pharmaceuticals, general advanced manufacturing, defence and space (although there has been an imperialist seizure of RAF Spadeadam – the UK’s Electronic Warfare Centre – it is in Cumbria, not the North East), and creative industries (although we no longer have a regional TV programme producing company now Tyne Tees does not do that). There is the usual guff about digital industries – games yes and Teesside University – not in the NE Mayoral area – is one of the best places to learn that kind of programming, but AI ???? What we seem to be promised is a massive energy-hungry data-processing centre which is ecologically disastrous. The more you know about so called “artificial intelligence” (I have been engaged with thinking about neural nets for a long time), the less you expect of them and the more questions they raise. The new Chinese AI agents have already changed the game. Of course, Starmer and Reeves have been seduced by the Tech Bros into thinking that AI is the solution to the delivery of public services. The record of government procurement of even basic digital services is dire and AI will be worse.

    One sector I am deeply suspicious of is “Knowledge Intensive Professional Services”. Marine engineering and ship management services – very good indeed. Legal and Financial Services – the tax dodgers’ pals, not good for much of what they do. Real Estate – bad – dominates urban systems and planning to the detriment of most people and the whole of the environment. Good to see the Leamside line in the plan as a metro extension and bringing back redundancy to the East Coast line but that plan way proceeds the establishment of the Mayoral authority.

    There are occasional signs of intelligence and forward thinking – although perhaps only one. Somebody seems to have realized that with the UK out of the EU and protectionism being the new game in world trade there will be a necessary shortening of supply lines. Given that the NE has retained more of an industrial base than the UK in general, (although much of it is on Teesside outwith the NE Combined authority area), this point is well made and there could be benefits for manufacturing in general in the UK and across the whole NE region.

    Of course there is no real democratic basis or real public engagement for any of this. Compare this really rather trivial exercise with the Structure Plans and North East Regional Strategy of the 1970s – they were much better informed and well constructed.

    The BIG FAULT – the NE region as a whole includes some of the poorest areas not just in the UK but in the whole of Western Europe. One is shared with Teesside but even Northumberland and Tyneside are way below the UK and Western Europe EU levels for Gross Value Added (GVA) although since a lot of GVE includes the imputed net rents of owner occupiers (10% for the UK as a whole) GVA is not the best measure for poverty. There is some passing mention of this in the report but the whole tone is relentlessly upbeat – all will be well, and all manner of things will be well, and all things will be well. Fat chance.

  • Composition of NE Combined Authority Boards

    One way of getting to grips with the nature of the North East Combined Authority is to look at the membership of its Boards. There are three of these:

    Business and Economy Board

    Culture, Creative, Tourism and Sport Advisory Board

    Environment, Coast and Rural Advisory Board

    For the Culture etc. Board the membership seems reasonable and representative of those sectors, although there is no representative from a community background.

    For the Environment etc. Board from a membership of 28 we have two from the National Farmers Union, two from the Country Land and Business Association (former name Country Landowners’ which indicates what this represents) and Lord Curry of Kirkharle, a British farmer and businessman who is the former chair of NFU Mutual. The urban North East seems not to have an environment given the presence of deep rural reps on this board and Tyne and Wear having only one Councillor rep with Durham having none. There is no rep from users of the rural environment – where is the Ramblers’ Association?  In Scotland there is a right of responsible access to all rural land. Now that is way out of Mayoral powers, although it should be devolved, but fat chance of pressing for that with this bunch in control and fat chance of serious attention to river pollution from agricultural runoff.

    We only have information on two members of the Business and Economy Board and that from a tweet from McManus informing us as to her such a busy week. These are the Chair, John McCabe, Chief executive at North East Chamber of Commerce and Vice Chair, Emily Cox Group Ambassador for the North and Director of Colleague Relations at Lloyds Banking Group, previously the Director of Public Affairs at Virgin Money with a law degree from Cambridge and who splits her time between (!) (does she know between is for two cases – should be among) Edinburgh, London and Newcastle.  Will there be a trade unionist – even just one? The North East LEP has now been merged into the Combined Authority. At least it had some members from productive industrial capital as opposed to finance and real estate. I will report on the full composition of this crucial board in due course.

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