How today’s Spending Review benefits Sheffield – as big rise in unemployment looms

He announced a £3bn, three-year ‘restart’ programme to help 1m people who have been out of work for more than a year get a job.

He announced a £4bn ‘levelling up’ fund open to applications from ’any’ local authority, not just those in the North.

Projects had to have ‘real impact’, be delivered this Parliament - i.e. be ‘shovel ready’ - and must be supported locally including by MPs.

He announced a new national infrastructure strategy based around economic recovery, levelling up and meeting the UK’s net zero emissions obligation by 2050.

It would be supported by a new infrastructure bank to be sited ’in the North’ which would start on new projects in spring.

Sheffield is already home to the British Business Bank which uses a network of lenders to distribute funds, including some specifically for firms in the North.

And he announced a UK Shared Prosperity Fund which would ‘at least’ match EU structural funds for under-performing areas that will disappear after Brexit.

Mr Sunak said domestic ‘UK-wide’ funding would ‘on average’ reach £1.5bn-a-year. And it would kick-off next year with £220 million for local areas to pilot programmes to help communities prepare.

South Yorkshire was set to receive £605m from the EU between 2021 and 2027.

Sheffield MP Paul Blomfield is among scores of opposition MPs who had criticised a lack of detail or consultation on the fund previously.

The Federation of Small Businesses called the review a ‘missed opportunity’ to show ‘the importance of business and private sector job creation’.

Claire Reading, South Yorkshire development manager, said: “The economic forecasts outlined today are stark. Our hopes of recovery will hinge on the success of small businesses. We need to see far more from this Government where reducing tax on enterprise, facilitating start-ups and bringing down operating and employment costs are concerned.

“That said, commitments to a new UK infrastructure Bank, Levelling Up Fund and UK Shared Prosperity Fund are good to see. We’ve always said that replacing EU funding for business support would be critical as we move to a new relationship with Europe, and our recommendations have been taken on board.

“It’s vital that – as these new initiatives are rolled out – small firms are brought into the supply chains of capital expenditure projects and paid on time.”

Mr Sunak also promised ‘almost £15bn’ for research and development next year, details of which will be avidly picked over by Sheffield’s two universities.

Adam Marshall, director general of the British Chambers of Commerce, welcomed the Infrastructure Strategy, saying it was an important step in overcoming the ‘infrastructure deficit’.

And government must waste no time putting its employment schemes into action.

He added: “Measures to help people return to work at this challenging time will help limit long-term unemployment but Government must waste no time in putting these plans into action. Government and business will need to work together to re-train and re-skill the UK workforce.

"Investment in the Kickstart Scheme, in which Chambers are playing a leading role, and the launch of the Restart scheme, will be critical in helping to achieve that.

“With an uncertain winter ahead, the government will need to maintain an open mind on providing further support to businesses struggling to survive.

“As we look to rebuild and renew local and national economies, businesses will also need further significant incentives for investment in people, productivity and the planet.”

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Thank you. Nancy Fielder, editor