[ad_1]
The Treasury has said it will announce the location of a new headquarters in the north in a few weeks as Chancellor Rishi Sunak prepares to lay out plans in next Wednesday’s spending review to level Britain’s lopsided economy.
Sunak is expected to use the House of Commons mini-budget to invest billions of pounds in regions other than London and the south-east of England, as part of plans to deliver on Boris Johnson’s “leveling off” promises.
In an attempt to reset the government’s agenda, the Treasury said the chancellor would announce £ 1.6bn in local road funding as part of the review to cover investment in financial year 2021-22, aimed at fixing potholes, points of congestion and other updates across the country. It will be drawn from the £ 600 billion five-year funding fund for infrastructure investments promised by the government this year.
With the economy struggling to escape the deepest recession in history, the plan is part of the overdue national infrastructure strategy, which sets the government’s spending priorities for major public works.
However, promises of additional financing to level the economy are likely to be undermined by the chancellor preparing to impose a new public sector wage freeze in response to record levels of public borrowing.
The planned cap has angered unions and sparked accusations that the government is instead leveling out the economy through a return to austerity-era policies.
Anneliese Dodds, the shadow chancellor, said: “This is the irresponsible decision to make for the economy. The salary freeze will make people worry about making ends meet. That means they will cut spending and the economy will take longer to recover. “
In setting out the plan to boost opportunities in parts of the country where voters first backed Tory MPs in the 2019 election, the Treasury said changes to its green paper, which provides guidelines for spending decisions, would give greater weight to projects outside London and the South East.
As part of broader plans to move 22,000 officials out of the capital by 2030, an announcement is expected within weeks on where the new north campus will be located. 11 from next year.
This month, the Northern Policy Foundation, a Manchester-based think tank founded by conservative “red wall” MPs, recommended moving the Treasury to Leeds. However, it has also been speculated that a campus could be established in Darlington.
Sunak said: “We are absolutely committed to leveling the opportunities for those living in all corners of the UK to get their fair share of our future prosperity. Every nation and region in the UK has benefited from our unprecedented £ 200bn Covid support package. And after a difficult year for this country, this spending analysis will help us rebuild better by investing more than 600 billion pounds across the UK over the next five years. “
