As Key Cities we match the government’s Levelling Up ambitions and commitment to tackling the regional inequalities that we see across the UK. Skills outcomes, both for young people and the local workforce, is clearly one such area of inequality, but as well as reflecting the issue, it is a critical part of the solution and the engine that can drive a sustainable growth that benefits all our regions and communities.

Local partnerships with strong local leadership the powers and funding to develop and deliver approaches that can engage our residents and support them to develop the skills that local employers need have the potential to boost local economic outcomes.

Covid has left a legacy we need to tackle and as we have seen it really amplified the inequalities that were already present in society. It also changed the workplace and how we work, accelerating advances in AI and the automation of tasks and processes.

But whilst Covid provided a surge this is still part of wider journey we were already embracing in the world of work to deliver our Future Cities. The global megatrends shaping this future such as the rise of technology and application of industry 4.0 that we have started to see, alongside the climate emergency and demographic changes as well as how Britain trades with the world as the government continues its post-brexit agenda, will shape how all of us work in the future.

Given these changes will affect each of us and every area of the country, there is a real potential in delivering change to address the underlying inequalities and re-imagine the UK. Key Cities are ideally positioned to do this as a national group that can work across political parties to develop, pilot, and embed local solutions.