Northern culture must be embedded in Levelling Up paper

Northern MPs, regional mayors, local authority and cultural leaders have come together to make the case for Northern culture.

The Case For Culture gathered a significant body of evidence on what the North needs to rebuild, rebalance and recover and achieved pan-Northern and cross-party consensus on its findings and recommendations. Its 10 point action plan makes it clear that Northern culture must be embedded – and not ignored – in the UK government’s levelling up White Paper.

The All Party Parliamentary Group for Northern Culture says that there is ‘a clear and strategic case for investment in culture in the North’, stressing that culture was ‘probably the quickest and most under-used lever for levelling up today’.

Citing the Angel of the North in Gateshead, Manchester's music scene and Yorkshire's strength in film and TV as success stories that help build the identities and economies of those places, the report recommended more opportunities for training and education, more funding power for local leaders, and promoting a ‘Brand North’.

The report said: “The levelling up agenda can encourage national institutions and organisations old and new to relocate or establish new hub sites in the North; [and] high street and heritage sites can be repurposed. Social and civic cohesion can be enabled through culture to mitigate the impacts of the Covid mental health crisis; [and] educational catch-up can be facilitated through a new focus on creative curriculum, apprenticeships and life-long learning."

The Commons Culture Select Committee is currently conducting an inquiry into the role of culture in levelling up.