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By ROB PARSONS - July 12 2022
Now 18, Liv Eren from Halton in Cheshire still feels upset when she looks back at her experiences of growing up in a low-income family where she was "acutely aware" of her social position.
"I remember a group of us telling a teacher that we wouldn't be able to go on a school trip when she wondered why no one had signed up", says the teenager, now an End Child Poverty Coalition ambassador. "At 11-years of age and knowing about your parents finances and what they can afford - no child should be in a position to know that."
What she describes is the painful reality for thousands of families in the North. And shockingly, new research out today reveals that in many parts of our region child poverty rates are actually climbing, restricting their life chances from the day they're born.
Though nationally child poverty in the UK fell to the lowest level in seven years in the first year of the coronavirus pandemic, in the North East rates have shot up from 26% in 2014/15 to 38% in 2020/21. In the same period child poverty in Yorkshire and the Humber also grew by 6%.
Today's research, carried out by Loughborough University on behalf of the End Child Poverty Coalition, shows the figures are even worse in certain parts of the region. In the Middlesbrough Parliamentary constituency more than half of children are in poverty and rates are above 40% in Newcastle and Manchester.
The issue - and that of regional inequality more generally - has warranted virtually no mention among the candidates vying to be the next Tory leader, with the winner to be announced on September 5. But political and business leaders in the North East said the region's status as the new child poverty hotspot was "deeply alarming".
John McCabe, chief executive of the North East England Chamber of Commerce, tweeted today: "Any politician with leadership ambitions needs to understand this isn’t just a bit vexatious to campaigners. Child poverty was top of the agenda when I met the CEO of one of our biggest employers last week. That’s the norm now. We won’t stand for this."
And the Bishop of Durham, the Rt Revd Paul Butler said: "This is not right in a compassionate and just society like ours – and the Government must act urgently to reverse this situation, which should be of profound concern for all of us in the North East."
The UK-wide rate in 2020/21 was 27%, representing a fall of around 400,000 children from the previous year, something attributed to the Covid-related £20 per week increase to Universal Credit that was removed in October 2021.
A Government spokesman said the eight million most vulnerable families will be protected during the cost-of-living crisis with at least £1,200 in direct payments from this week.
Child poverty rates in Bradford are shockingly high too, at a shade under 40%. And today civic, business, education and health leaders in the city were due to launch a 20-year drive to remove the barriers and inequalities that prevent many children in the district from leading fulfilling lives.
Called the Alliance for Life Chances, the partnership aims to see every child reach their potential and go on and lead a successful and fulfilling life, though members acknowledge the task is complex and will take a generation to achieve.
At the event, city leaders will be asked to sign a giant pledge card where they commit to actively work to increase opportunities and reduce inequalities.
Officials will also reveal the results of Bradford being named five years ago as one of the country's 'opportunity areas', with extra resources invested to improve social mobility through education.
Headteacher's delight as school is rebuilt after years of waiting
Two years ago Andy Byers, head of Framwellgate School Durham, told how his school had been in a poor state for a decade, leading to regular floods and excessive heating and maintenance costs.
The school was earmarked for a rebuild under the Building Schools for the Future scheme in the late 2000s but the project was cancelled in 2010 by the then Education Secretary Michael Gove. Mr Byers said in 2020: "It was desperate then, and 10 years later, it is desperate now."
But there was good news for My Byers and 26 other school leaders across the North as the Government today announced the schools to be rebuilt or refurbished through the £1 billion School Rebuilding Programme.
The investment to provide modern classrooms for thousands of pupils will see work on the rebuilds starting immediately. Eleven schools in the North West, 10 in the North East and six in Yorkshire and the Humber will be built, which the Government said would help with its levelling up agenda.
My Byers said today: "With a new building we will be able to give our students facilities and a learning environment which will inspire them, and our staff, in the working environment they deserve.”
Kevin Courtney, joint general secretary of the NEU teaching union, said that while the programme was “welcome”, 2022 capital funding for schools was £1.9 billion less than it had been in 2009 in real terms.
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Storm Arwen 'exposed lack of skilled workers to deal with impact'
It caused untold damage and forced families across the North East from their homes, but last winter's devastating Storm Arwen also exposed a lack of skills in the rural economy.
That was the warning today from Mark Tufnell, the President of the Country Land and Business Association (CLA), in a speech on levelling up the countryside on the first day of the annual Great Yorkshire Show in Harrogate.
He said the underperformance of the rural economy was costing £43bn in lost gross value added each year, something he'd raised with all 11 Tory leadership contenders in a letter.
Problems holding back the countryside include the 'broken' planning system, a lack of joined up thinking in government and poor infrastructure, with the target for gigabit-broadband to be available nationwide pushed back to 2030.
Mr Tufnell told his President's breakfast at the four-day country show that "there is a lack of skills within the rural economy and there needs to be better encouragement for young people to come in and take up areas where there is a deficit".
He added: "Forestry, I think, is a particular example. And it's come to the fore as particularly as a result of Storm Arwen, where certain parts of the North were hit by these dramatic storms, because the wind came in at a particularly unusual direction. And there are insufficient people with the skills to come and help deal with the impact of it."
Summer of strike misery goes on as train drivers vote for new action
Northern commuters should be prepared for a repeat of the industrial action which decimated local rail services last month after train drivers voted overwhelmingly to strike over pay.
Train drivers with operators Northern and TransPennine Express, the two biggest operators in the region, voted to take strike action, their union revealed last night. Aslef, the train drivers union, said its members at eight train companies backed campaigns of industrial action.
Aslef members at Chiltern, LNER, Northern, TransPennine Express, Arriva Rail London, Great Western, Southeastern and West Midlands Trains voted by around 9-1 in favour of strikes on turnouts of more than 80 per cent, said the union. No date has yet been set for any action.
Meanwhile Ministers were accused of introducing a “scab charter” after their plans to allow agency workers to replace strikers were approved in the Commons last night.
MPs voted 289 to 202, majority 87, in favour of the regulations, which brought forward in response to the rail dispute which has seen thousands of workers go on strike in recent weeks.
Among those opposing were Tory Alec Shelbrooke, representing Elmet and Rothwell in West Yorkshire, who voted against the Government for the first time in his Parliamentary career over proposals which he noted were not in the party’s 2019 general election manifesto.
In better news the first miles of new electric overhead wires on a mainline in Yorkshire for over 25 years are now up, marking a step-change in progress for the multi-billion-pound Transpennine Route Upgrade.
Transport officials say the scheme will re-energise train travel for passengers across the North when it's completed and is the "first step towards a cleaner, greener, fully electrified railway" between York, Leeds, Huddersfield and Manchester.
Ten miles of electric wiring are set to be installed between Church Fenton and Colton Junction – where trains from Leeds join the East Coast Main Line towards York – by the end of the year.
Yorkshire devolution talks 'at 59th minute of the 11th hour'
Last week's sacking of Levelling Up Secretary Michael Gove and the resignation of much of his ministerial team sparked fears that major decisions for the North being made by his department would be put on ice.
But in North Yorkshire and York, a devolution deal handing over vital powers and hundreds of millions of pounds in new funding looks set to be announced by the government in just over a week, writes Local Democracy Reporter Stuart Minting.
After almost 20 months of negotiations between North Yorkshire and York council leaders and officers, government ministers and Whitehall officials, the extent of transfer of power and funding associated with specific policy areas from Westminster to Northallerton is due to be revealed before the summer Parliamentary recess starts on July 21.
It is believed the deal for York and North Yorkshire could potentially unlock around £2.4bn of investment over 30 years, with a focus on improving economic prosperity, creating more affordable housing and lead to the area becoming England’s first carbon negative economy.
County council leader Carl Les said that having worked with new Levelling Up Secretary Greg Clark before "I have every confidence that he will treat this matter with the urgency it requires". He added: “We are at not only the 11th hour, but at the 59th minute of the 11th hour.”
Meanwhile in the North East local officials say steps towards a new £3bn devolution deal will have to “slow down” after Boris Johnson resigned – but there is hope that a new mayor for the region can still be elected in 2024.
For Labour, Sir Keir Starmer yesterday accused Boris Johnson of failing to deliver on any levelling up promises made to the North East, as Local Democracy Reporter Dan Holland.
After saying during a speech in Gateshead that Britain was “stuck” and calling for a general election to be held, the Labour leader said that “levelling up has not happened”.
But, when asked what a Starmer government would do to fix the regional inequalities holding back the North East, he failed to make any specific policy pledges.
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Northern Stories
Professor Chris Whitty has received an Honorary Doctorate of Science from Northumbria University in recognition of his clinical and academic contributions and his outstanding leadership during the pandemic. The UK government's Chief Medical Advisor is an alumnus of Northumbria University and has become a globally recognised physician and epidemiologist and a trusted figure throughout the pandemic following his Downing Street briefings. He studied for the LLM in Medical Law at Northumbria University, graduating in 2005.
The Locomotion museum in Shildon, County Durham is to be extended with a new exhibition area for rail vehicles under plans green-lit by councillors. The plans for the “New Hall” exhibition space mean the museum will have the world’s largest undercover collection of heritage railway vehicles. The Locomotion, already home to 70 rail vehicles, will be developed for the 200th anniversary of the Stockton to Darlington railway with the new collection hall.
Labour’s newest MP has vowed to be “straight-talking” on sexual violence and abuse after his predecessor was jailed for sexual assault. Wakefield's Simon Lightwood made the pledge as he delivered his maiden House of Commons speech, in which he also called for a general election despite only securing his seat last month. He was elected with a majority of 4,925 on a swing of 12.7% from the Tories to Labour to replace Imran Ahmad Khan, who quit after being found guilty of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old boy.
A conference exploring how the concept of universal basic income might work in the North takes place in Manchester on July 28. The event at the Friends Meeting House in Manchester organised by the RSA think-tank brings together policymakers, politicians and interested members of the public. It coincides with the launch of a paper from Basic Income Conversation, in collaboration with Northumbria University, on the views of 'red wall' voters on the idea of every adult citizen getting a set amount of money regularly. More details here.
New conversion plans have been revealed for Harrogate’s former central post office after previous proposals were criticised as being “far too dominant” for the high street. The Cambridge Street building has stood empty since the post office controversially relocated to its current base at WHSmith in 2019. Proposals for 25 apartments and offices were described as “too intensive” but scaled back plans for 11 apartments and retail space have now been submitted to Harrogate council which aims to make a decision before the end of August.
- The boss of a fishing company says he hopes more landings will be possible in Hull after two of the firm's trawlers arrived in the port to discharge their catch. Between them, sister vessels Wiron 5 and Wiron 6 will unload 900 tonnes of herring over the next few days at the city's Alexandra Dock. It's the first time the two Hull-registered trawlers have discharged in Hull side by side and is the culmination of extensive planning by owners North Atlantic Fishing Company, which has an office in Hessle Road.
