Reactions to PMs speech on levelling up

Thursday, 15 July 2021 12:43

Stronger employment rights and a proper industrial plan - not vague promises – are how you ‘level up’, says GMB Union GMB Union has responded to the Prime Ministers speech in Coventry today. Gary Smith, GMB General Secretary said: “Promises of ‘jam tomorrow’ don’t hold much hope when it’s Boris Johnson who is making them – workers and their communities need to be able to see and feel a credible levelling-up agenda by way of jobs and prosperity....Request free trial

Stronger employment rights and a proper industrial plan - not vague promises – are how you ‘level up’, says GMB Union

GMB Union has responded to the Prime Ministers speech in Coventry today.

Gary Smith, GMB General Secretary said:

“Promises of ‘jam tomorrow’ don’t hold much hope when it’s Boris Johnson who is making them – workers and their communities need to be able to see and feel a credible levelling-up agenda by way of jobs and prosperity.

“Even if the UK Government builds these hospitals, how will they find the staff to fill them? Ministers are doing nothing to tackle the understaffing crisis in our NHS and their shameful pay cut policy for NHS staff could well turn that crisis into a catastrophe before a new brick is even laid.

“Meanwhile, vague pledges of new green jobs should come with a health warning - communities across the country over the last decade have seen the promise of a green industrial revolution amount to little more than a puddle of political snake oil.

“The Prime Minister said he’s interested in hearing from local leaders. Well whilst he’s in the West Midlands he should find time to sit down with GMB and we’ll tell him how we’ve just secured 300 jobs at JCB after facing cuts at the start of the pandemic.

“If the Prime Minister really wants to ‘level up’ our regions and nations then he can take a series of simple steps now: Our key workers need to be valued, we need stronger employment rights, and the economy needs a proper industrial plan to help meet our net zero ambitions.”

The independent Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) responds to the Prime Minister's speech on levelling up.

Katie Schmuecker, Deputy Director of Policy & Partnerships at JRF said:

“The Prime Minister is right to identify living standards as a key priority to help people flourish. But can a Government that intends to cut the incomes of the poorest families in just a few weeks’ time really claim to be levelling up? Taking money out of the pockets of households that need it most by cutting Universal Credit makes no sense at all, and would suck money out of our recovery in the places that are most likely to struggle.

“Cutting Universal Credit would be a terrible mistake which would pull half a million more people into poverty. It’s not too late for the Prime Minister to change course and keep in place this lifeline which will give people across the country the chance of a better life.”

TUC: We can’t level up the country without levelling up at work

Commenting on today’s (Thursday) speech by the prime minister on levelling up, TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said:

"We can't level up the country without levelling up at work.

“This pandemic has brutally exposed the terrible working conditions, low pay and insecurity many of our key workers face.

“But so far, there has been precious little to show for the government’s vaunted levelling up agenda. And today’s speech will do little to change that.

“With more than 1 million children of key worker households in poverty and 3.6 million workers stuck in insecure jobs, it’s time the government moved on from empty sound bites.

“Enough is enough. Ministers must invest in good green jobs in industries of the future, ban zero hours contracts and give all of our key workers a pay rise.

“And they must invest in warmer homes, faster broadband and better public transport links across the country. That’s how we level up the UK.”

Erica Roscoe, senior research fellow at IPPR North said:

“Boris Johnson promised to ‘level up’ the country in his first speech as Prime Minister. It was welcome rhetoric, but two years on our deep divides between and within regions are growing, and places like the North are still waiting for the powers, resources, and transparency they need to see from government to level up for themselves.

“The Prime Minister is right to identify that the status quo here in the UK has benefitted nobody. For too long the Treasury has held onto major decisions and has treated London and the South East as a cash cow for tax revenue, rather than seeking to deliver a good life for people. This is dysfunctional. People nowhere have benefitted – regions have been kept back and London has some of the highest levels of poverty in the country. So the need for deeds, not words, has never been more urgent.

“The evidence is clear - levelling up can only be achieved if places are empowered to level up for themselves. From better living standards, to better work, health and a better democracy – leaders across England are beginning to show the difference that devolution can make, but limits to their powers and competition for short term funding initiatives mean they cannot realise their communities’ full potential. We need a fair, transparent settlement in which power is shared between places and government – not piecemeal projects where government continues to hold all of the strings because that isn’t real, progressive devolution. The Prime Minister must let go to level up.”