A DAMNING new report has highlighted one of the major reasons Scotland should be an independent country – the regional inequalities which blight economic performance and life chances across the UK could become much worse unless drastic action is taken.
The assessment comes in the first report from the UK2070 Commission, an independent inquiry into city and regional inequalities set up to review policy and issues related to long-term city and regional development.
Chaired by Lord Bob Kerslake, former head of the Civil Service, pictured, it proposes a long-term strategy encompassed in an “Agenda for Action”, including “effective devolution to rebalance powers and responsibilities, through a systematic and comprehensive framework of political devolution and organisational decentralisation”.
READ MORE: Scottish inequality gap increases as poverty deepens
It says Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have been included, rather than just England, to allow the whole of the UK to learn from the work of the devolved nations in developing economic spatial strategies.
The report says: “The current push for greater decentralisation and devolution must overcome the asymmetry between the representation of people in England outside London, compared with people in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
“It must go beyond the current limited arrangements in England and instead apply to all areas. It must tackle the current piecemeal delegation of powers. Although centralised government does not, of itself, result in imbalanced regional development, there are unique problems in the UK generally in the way it operates.”
The report says Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland already have national frameworks which play a key role in helping to shape their future development.
“England, however, has none. As a result, there is no common understanding of shared priorities beyond the individual nations,” it says.
It proposes harnessing the new economies, embracing technological change to create a network of “place-based economic hubs” alongside strengthening local economies.
The report also recommends establishing a UK Renewal Fund linked to reformed fiscal regimes “to ensure investment in new infrastructure, to encourage talent and investment at home and from across the world”.
It says the fund would need to be at least £10 billion a year to meet the challenge, above existing spending plans over a 25-year period.
Andrew Wilson, The National columnist and chair of the Sustainable Growth Commission, was dismissive on social media, tweeting: “Important interim report from Lord Kerslake: ‘comparing the UK to 30 other OECD countries across 28 different indicators demonstrates that the UK is one of the most regionally unbalanced countries in the industrialised world’ @UK_2070 NOT as good as it gets!”
An SNP spokesperson added: “The UK economy is far too concentrated on London and the South East at the expense of everyone else.
“As this report acknowledges, devolution has allowed Scotland to progress – but only independence can give us the full economic powers we need.”
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