A commission comprising of MP’s and business leaders has been established to assess the anticipated impact of the Coronavirus pandemic on the Government’s levelling up agenda. Titled “The Covid Recovery Commission”, it will produce bold and practical policy recommendations aimed at ensuring that the UK economy emerges stronger, fairer and more resilient post-crisis.
A team of dedicated researchers will consider what impact the pandemic has had on the UK’s levelling up agenda, and make recommendations to support higher productivity levels, encourage business investment right across the UK (both domestic and foreign) and promote a culture of innovation over the next five years and beyond.
The Commission will release three short papers before the end of 2020. The papers will be looking at how the pandemic has impacted communities across the UK, the wider business environment and future societal trends, for example decarbonisation. A final report in February 2021.
The local MP for Barrow and Furness, Simon Fell, has joined the Commission’s policy panel. Commenting, Mr Fell said: “My job is to champion Barrow and Furness, and to hold the Government to account in lots of areas, especially it’s promise of levelling up communities like ours. With that in mind, I was delighted to be asked to join the policy panel of the Covid Recovery Commission.
“It is imperative that we learn from the pandemic and use those lessons to build back better. I’ve joined the policy panel in order to feed in the commission’s outcomes directly to members of the Government, and to ensure that Barrow and Furness’ views are heard.”
As part of the role, the local MP will help inform the work and the final policy proposals of the commission. This will be done through a series of regular interviews with Simon and the other policy panellists throughout the year.
