Ross Clark
‘Growth in every postcode’, ‘levelling up’ – whatever you call it, it is easier to sympathise with the general aim of raising living standards in downtrodden areas to match those in better-off places than it is to come up with workable policies to achieve it. I really wonder if Andy Burnham has thought through his big idea for the geographical equalisation of wealth, because at first sight it appears as if he is creating an engine to achieve the exact opposite.
Besides aiming to transfer power and responsibility from Whitehall to the regions, the Prime Minister will announce today that he intends to change the tax system so that mayors of local authorities get to keep a share of income tax and business rates revenues raised in their areas. The idea is that ‘communities directly benefit when their economy grows’. We will have to wait for the Budget for further details but today’s proposals make it clear that councils won’t be granted the right to vary rates of income tax or business rates – as the Scottish government has. But the public money which will be advanced to them in future will come less in the form of grants and more in the form of a share of tax revenues.
Whatever policies you dream up, they are going to have to work against a very strong tide of human instinct
