RT. HON JAKE BERRY MP Member of Parliament for Rossendale and Darwen HOUSE OF COMMONS Prime Minister Rt Hon. Boris Johnson MP 10 Downing Street London SWIA (AA 26 October 2020 Dear Prime Minister, We are writing to you as Northern MPs regarding the Government's approach to supporting ‘communities in the North, North Wales and Scottish Borders where the Covid 19 vieus is most prevalent, and the levelling-up agenda as outlined in your economic speech in Dudley on 30 June 2020. As you said then, and as is trae today, we must use this critical moment to address the problems we have collectively failed to tackle for decades. ‘The North has seen a level of disruption unparalleled with other parts of the country. The virus has ‘exposed in sharp relief the deep structural and systemic disadvantage faced by our communities and it ‘threatens to continue to increase the disparity between the North and South still further. Northern paris of our country Were among the first t0 be significantly adversely affected by the Covid outbreak, and now many communities have been put back under severe restrictions. ‘The package of support measures that have been announced by the Chancellor is significant. We welcome the measures already in place such as the furloughing scheme, the Coronavirus Business Interruption Lean (CBILs}, and the deferral of VAT payments, and we weleome the substantial package of financial support provided to local authorities that have entered into the highest level of lockdown restrictions in recent days. ‘We do however stare concems that the cost of Covid could be paid for by the downgrading of the levelling-up agenda, and northern constituencies like ours will be left behind. We believe this would ‘threaten to undermine the Governments hard-won mandate in December, ata time when the political and economic case for the levelling-up agenda we have been elected to deliver, has never been more ‘essential ‘That is why we are today calling for your support to create a pathway down the tiering system and to ‘reate a Northern Economic Recovery Plan to help our constituents build back better out of this Covid crisis, - First, we believe the Government can foster wider support by setting out a clear roadmap down the tiering system and out of lockdown. Disproportionately, restrictions are affecting people across the ‘North far greater than they are in the South. We believe that providing greater clarity about how local areas move down the tiering system and reopen economies would be of benefit to both people and ‘businesses in our region. People want to see that measures will come to an end, and to feel reassured ‘that the opportunities hamessed at the beginning of the year will be provided to them once again by this Government,- Second, much of our infrastructure in the North is insufficient and is a barrier to our region’s economic potential and future growth. We believe a significant reprofiling of government infrastructure commitments, as set out in our manifesto, would be beneficial. In particular, we believe the Government should prioritise and accelerate key projects, including Trans-Pennine HS2-ready Northern Powerhouse Rail, Strategic Development Corridors (as put forward by Transport for the North), and ultrafast broadband, - Third, we note the Chancellor has decided to conduct a one-year Spending Review in orderto prioritise the Government's response to Covid-19, and our focus on supporting jobs. We belicve now is the right time to reaffirm our commitment to people living in the North with a Norther Economic Recovery Plan, working on a regional basis to create employment opportunities and growth. Our constituents have been some of the worst affected by Covid, with many losing jobs and businesses. We urge you to reflect carefully on our promise to people living in the North during the last election with the levelling-up agenda and make our region central to the country's economic recovery CC Take, NL Rt Hon. Jake Berry MP Member of Parliament for Rossendale and Darwen (On behalf of the Northem Research Group (NRG) ‘Aaron Bell MP Karl McCartney MP Alexander Stafford MP Kieran Mullen MP ‘Andrew Perey MP Lee Anderson MP Antony Higginbotham MP Mark Eastwood MP Ben Bradley MP Mark Jenkinson MP Chris Green MP Mark Logan MP Christian Wakeford MP Mark Menzies MP Craig Whittaker MP Mary Robinson MP David Davis MP Nick Fletcher MP David Jones MP Paul Howell MP David Morris MP Pau! Maynard MP David Mundell MP Peter Gibson MP Esther McVey MP Imran Ahmad Khan MP Philip Davies MP Robbie Moore MP James Daly MP Robert Goodwill MP James Davies MP Robert Largan MP James Grundy MP ‘Sara Briteliffe MP Jason McCartney MP ‘Simon Clarke MP John Stevenson MP Julian Sturdy MP ‘Simon Fell MP William Wragg MP