The news last week from the BIS that the Regional Growth Fund (RGF) will receive a further £300 million in funding can only be celebrated by Liberal Democrat activists. Launched by Nick Clegg back in 2010, the fund was designed to help regional businesses grow and strengthen local economies. In the run up to the upcoming elections, local businesses need to be reminded of the funding available to them, now in its sixth round, which the Liberal Democrats have secured in government.
So far almost £3 billion has been invested in regional companies through the RGF, helping them to expand and take on more staff. Local businesses from any sector are able to apply for funding, with over £1.1 billion invested in manufacturing already. The range of companies taking advantage of the RGF is simply astounding – see here for successful bids in your area – with everything from universities and aerospace companies to green energy producers. The variety of industries taking part in the scheme is testament to the Liberal Democrats desire to see balanced growth across the whole of the UK and not just in London.
In terms of funding the scheme, public money is being bolstered by private investment. For every £1 invested through the RGF, the private sector has put in £5.50 and the total investment of private sector support is expected to reach £16 billion. This can only be seen as further evidence that the Liberal Democrats can be trusted to spend taxpayers’ money wisely. We can’t trust Labour with the economy and we can’t let the nation forget that.
The Regional Growth Fund has so far created over 100 000 jobs and a further 480 000 are expected by the mid-2020s. This investment in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) will fuel the economic recovery well into the next parliament and beyond. We need to let the voters know that the Liberal Democrats are providing meaningful funding to regional economies. By encouraging SMEs to grow and develop, we will be able to reduce the current regional imbalances: a legacy of the Thatcherite destruction of manufacturing and the failure of New Labour to successfully rebuild regional economies.
As we move forward to May, voters across the country need to be reminded of the real difference Liberal Democrats have made in government. We must ensure local businesses know about Regional Growth Fund and what it can do for them and we need to continue to oppose the Tory plans for Regional Pay. The Liberal Democrats can’t let the economic recovery end at the M25: we need to secure balanced growth for the whole of the UK.
* Jake Mason is a student at the University of Sheffield and works as a Campaign Assistant for the Liberal Democrats in Cheadle.
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11 Comments
Yet another great Lib Dem policy we should be shouting about.
Just wait for the usual suspects to arrive here and try to pick holes in it, talk it down and generally moan about how dreadful the Lib Dems are.
Yes, an excellent policy. In Rochdale, some great SME manufacturers have accessed the funding. Taking the plunge to invest is a risky business, and when the RGF helps (and helps to make the plan more robust) it builds confidence and creates jobs.
Government intervention like the RGF, the Green Investment Bank and the Industrial Strategy are all about supporting long term investment that wouldn’t otherwise happen, or wouldn’t happen so quickly.
Yes, yes, spin the yarn and feel good.
The good bit is that – probably as a result of having LDs in the Tory-led coalition government – there is a fund called the Regional Growth Fund with money to hand out.
The hard truth is that there is a lot less to hand out than was available through the Regional Development Agencies before 2010. The coalition government scrapped the RDAs just like that, in spite of promises from Vince Cable to keep those in the North of England (he subsequently lost the argument inside the government). The result in the NW was a serious hiatus in funding development projects, and almost a complete stop to regeneration projects. I held no brief for the NWDA and was no fan of it but the harsh fact is that while the new flow of money via RGF is welcome the overall effect has been damaging to the region.]
Another problem: it’s central government money handed out by ministers (or really by civil servants) in London on the basis of begging-bowl bids. The RDAs were far from perfect (and tended to be very biased towards the big cities) but at least there were based in the regions, had some regional representation on them, and knew where places were.
Finally why on earth are RGF grants still being given to places in the South East? An example of just how far “regional economic policy” has withered under successive governments.
Tony
But Tony, didn’t those agencies waste a huge amount of money on headquarters etc?
There has been much less money to go around across most departments, hasn’t there? So if you don’t think regional development spending should have been cut, where else would it have been better to cut back even more instead?
The fact that there’s any regional development money at all, let alone enough to create and sustain hundreds of thousands of jobs, is, under the financial circumstances left by Labour, a minor miracle.
And a Lib Dem miracle at that.
This is yet another of what I have come to think of as “one cheer policies” (as opposed to three cheers). It’s great that something has been done, no doubt against considerable opposition in government, but it’s hardly liberal. In fact it’s distinctly centralised and top down, almost Soviet in inspiration.
How odd that this should be necessary when London hosts one of the greatest concentrations of money and financial expertise on the planet. But then again perhaps not so strange when one remembers Keynes’ observation that that, ” When the capital development of a country becomes a by-product of the activities of a casino, the job is likely to be ill-done…” In practise, government is left to pick up the pieces.
Regarding the RDAs their abrupt abolition did indeed lead to a prolonged and damaging hiatus. Yes, their headquarters were often palatial and their was a strong case for reform. That they got to that state suggests a failure of oversight from Whitehall which is a far more serious problem since it evidently extends across much of government. What is to be done?
The NWDA was bureaucratic and wasteful. Extracting funding required contacts with the right people in the right places. The Regional Growth Fund makes decisions quickly, and targets resources to job creation. It is a government initiative that has the support of business, and is getting things done. It is open to all, and funds are allocated on merit. It is disliked by some career politicians but it is one of the big successes of this government.
RC – love your comment ‘Just wait for the usual suspects to arrive here and try to pick holes in it, talk it down and generally moan about how dreadful the Lib Dems are.’
I’d nearly given up reading LDV because of all the moaners and complainers …. such a depressing way to start the day!
I do wish some people would not always make such generalised comments about regions. Within any region there is often a huge variation in employment opportunities and wealth. It is for example worth noting that the overall unemployment rate in London is higher than the overall rate in Scotland, Northern Ireland, South West of England, South East of England, East Midlands, West Midlands and Eastern England. Try telling someone living in Deptford, Tottenham, Newham or Barking that there is no need for more jobs and business activity locally! Yes there is need for rebalancing of the economy, and support for new and expanding businesses around the country. And yes, the dependence of the UK economy on financial services ,’the City’ over so many years, was disastatous. But please don’t pretend that deep levels of unemployment and deprivation don’t exist in parts of London and indeed some parts of the South East as well, in the latter case esp coastal towns such as Hastings and some parts of Thanet in east Kent.
I do wish people could recognise that some great inequalities exist within regions as opposed to just between regions.
Where is Tatton for example? It is most certainly is not in the South East of England. Sheffield Hallam is also far more prosperous than most consituences throughout the country.
It is also worth noting that average unemployment in London is actually higher than all these places (and has been for a long time)
– Northern Ireland
– Scotland
– South West of England
– South East of England
– Eastern region of England
– East Midland
– West Midlands
Don’t tell someone living in Deptford, Peckham, Tottenham, Newham, Barking or Woolwich that more jobs and businesses aren’t needed locally. And despite what Tony Greaves might think there are some parts of the south east that certainly need more economic activity, especially places such as east Kent, Clacton in Essex or Hastings in Sussex.
After the last 3 months of VATMOSS hell, Lib Dems trying to convince anyone of their excellent track record for small business aren’t going to get very far. In fact, it would be better left unmentioned, because it’s a very specific area where a lot of people feel quite aggrieved (quite rightly so). The day that something replaces the money that VATMOSS is removing from our business would be a good time to talk about these things, until then, we’re thousands of pounds a year down and have doubled our accounting costs. I’ve always been quite a fan of Vince, but the way he handled VATMOSS was appalling, he lost the support of many small business directors there and then,
apologies for my two posts above – I thought the first post wasn’t going to appear.
However, just to confirm my point I see that the Press Assocation are today reporting that unempoloyment actually increased by 7,000 in London in the quart er to December 2014, when the overall UK picture is a very welcome fall.
I am not for one moment suggesting that there are not huge differences between some regions when looking at regional averages (the south east compared to the North East, North West or Wales) but the picture is a lot more complicated than some people might think and suggesting that new jobs aren’t needed in many parts of London, as in most places around the country, is just wrong.