Over the new year it was announced that a devolution deal has been agreed for the North East that will unlock £4.2 billion of investment over 30 years as well as see powers devolved locally in issues such as transport, skills, housing, and economic development.

This is certainly positive and welcome news. The UK is one of the most centralised and unequal countries in the world with vast regional inequalities that continues to hold the North back. The thinktank IPPR North found in 2021 that in the past 5 years London received £12,147 of funding per person compared to just £8,125 in the North. The South East is home to just a third of the UK’s population but accounts for 45% of the economy and holds 42% of the wealth.

The levelling up fund money from central government that promised to breath life back into our communities is simply not enough and is not going to the right areas. Reports in September revealed that the levelling up fund had allocated the South East twice as much funding as the North East, and in the latest round of funding a bid to regenerate Ashington town centre was rejected while £19m was sent to the Prime Minister’s own wealthy rural constituency in Richmond.

After decades of decline under successive governments leading from Westminster it is no wonder that there is a growing appetite for power to be put into the hands of local and regional leaders with a better understanding of the regions character and problems that face us.

But this must come with the right level of funding and power if it is to make a real difference. £4.2 billion may seem like a big figure, but over 10 years it reduces to just over £52 a year per person in the North East – barely enough to touch the sides of what is needed to level up this long held back region. This is on top of a cut of 79% in funding to councils since 2010 which continue to this day. Rather than levelling up, this deal is a small step forward to filling a gaping chasm created by the Conservative Party in the first place.

Devolution is a good step forward and has my support. But we need to be more radical and brave in our ideas if we are to truly level up the North East.