If no deal is reached at the end of Brexit negotiations, the north of England’s green economy could be disproportionately at risk due to the levels of EU funding the region receives.
That is according to a new report by the Institute for Public Policy Research, which reveals that the North will have received 45% of all ERDF funding in England since 2014 by 2020.
This will have been significantly greater than in any other region of the UK, while more than half the £34m disbursed to universities for research and innovation will have gone to ones in the North.
“If the policy previously provided by the EU – and the financial and technical support associated with this – is to diminish, the UK will have to address its historically mixed record on energy with some urgency,” the report says.
It states that the North as a whole boasts 48% of the UK’s renewable energy, 41% of wind power, 40% of installed nuclear capacity, and 71% of England’s biomass generation.
However, it highlights how the region has much higher carbon intensity than the national average, and that uncertainty over the country’s future participation in EU initiatives could be particularly damaging in the North.
In addition, it argues that a ‘hard Brexit’ could leave future research projects, collaboration with European institutions, continued energy imports, and recruitment for the industry, in doubt.
If this is the case, the only way in which the UK will be able to meet its international obligations and drive forward the energy sector iwill be through the development of a long-term, coherent industrial strategy.
This would need to include either explicit government intervention, or extensive devolution of authority, including powers of taxes and incentives, to individual regions, according to the report.
“If the outcome was anything other than this scenario, the risks of withdrawing from hitherto beneficial legislation, such as Euratom, should be considered too great to countenance a hard Brexit,” it says.
“Indeed, given successive UK governments’ heel-dragging on energy policy, and the enormity of bureaucracy that is required for Brexit negotiations, the risks of total withdrawal from all EU arrangements appear very high indeed.”
