The principled case for Clarke’s amendment is also the simplest one. Why should central government stand in the way of local communities where there is support for building new turbines?
If we instituted the measure I propose, it would do more to help young people become homeowners than anything proposed by the target-obsessed.
Councils have retained more Business Rates as an incentive to boost enterprise. But it has been mooted that receipts grown by individual councils will be redistributed.
Trying to replicate successful schemes like Canary Wharf in places like the East of England is a pointless exercise. What works in cities may not be applicable elsewhere.
We already have a track record of getting real results – imagine what we could do if the shackles were off.
A pro-green agenda can complement a pro-growth one rather than contradict it, and the two can work together hand in hand – making progress on levelling up as they do so.
The ambiguous position of Truss on levelling up to date is another reason, among many, why the fragile coalition of December 2019 looks in some peril.
Shadow Ministers have attacked the idea. But Labour councils were falling over themselves to put in bids. Levelling up is now about a hand up not a hand out.
It’s beyond frustrating to see the reputation of free-market policies trashed because of mistakes that could have been avoided with some basic research and planning.
Rather than unleashing growth where there is strong potential for it, the plan seeks to conjure it where conditions are less favourable.
We have seen genuine levelling up being delivered in our constituencies thanks to the Coalfields Regeneration Trust (CRT).
With a smart and effective aid budget working alongside British defence, trade and diplomacy, the UK can transform lives and bring prosperity not just to Britain, but to many around the world.
Truss and Clarke will inherit a good plan, and a strong agenda for delivering for the Red Wall – all they need to do now is deliver.
Denying the South East what it needs to grow and prosper with the misguided intention of being ‘fair’ to the rest of the country is detrimental to all in the end.
Attacks on targets are criticising the problem’s symptom rather than its cause – that the English planning system is not currently designed to solve the country’s housing problems.