Political winds of change could power Midlands Engine
TheBusinessDesk.com and EY have produced a Midlands Engine report, assessing the challenges and opportunities facing the region as it looks to maximise the positive impact of devolution. Read the full report here.
THERE was a pamphlet published in 2012 about one of Birmingham’s most important political figures called Our Joe about Joseph Chamberlain.
Winston Churchill described the late 19th-century Liberal Unionist politician, and mayor of Birmingham, as “the one who made the weather”.
The pamphlet’s author, Birmingham-born Nick Timothy worked as a political adviser when he wrote it before going to run an education body. Earlier this year he returned to politics to once again advise the same Tory MP. Only now his official title is joint chief of staff to the Prime Minister. The well-connected political website Conservative Home has given him the unofficial title of Theresa May’s “thinker-in-chief”.
After feeling left behind by Cheshire MP and Chancellor George Osborne’s passion for the Northern Powerhouse, the political winds of change that swept through Downing Street in the summer could now help to power the Midlands Engine.
Marketing Derby’s John Forkin senses a change has already occurred, with the Northern Powerhouse weaker without its political sponsor, but is hesitant that the opportunity will just land in the Midlands’ lap.
“I think the Northern Powerhouse has probably had its day, to a certain extent, because it was the love-child of George Osborne, and it was really about Manchester,” he said.
“I’m not the first person to say this, but driving out of London I saw the infamous sign ‘The North/M1’. The Midlands doesn’t exist. It actually does appear somewhere just before Northampton, the first sign which says Midlands. In a sense that anecdote illustrates the problem.
“Almost fundamental to what we need to do around here is – and it may be simple to say but difficult to do – is just get in on the political radar.”
The first test of that will come when Mr Osborne’s replacement at the Treasury, Philip Hammond, delivers his first Autumn Statement.
Black Country LEP board member Ninder Johal said: “It’s so galling each time there’s an Autumn Statement, or a Budget statement, they’ll mention the Northern Powerhouse, they will never mention anything in this neck of the woods.
“I was at the LEP network recently and the itinerary was drawn up and they said ‘we have the minister of this, and the minister of that, and they want to meet all of the LEPs in the Northern Powerhouse and the rest of you, goodbye.’”
Mr Forkin will be keeping his ears pricked for a significant sign that the Midlands star is in the ascendancy.
“The Autumn Statement should have some Midlands Engine-badged cash and it might be £100m fund or a £1bn fund for SME growth in the Midlands,” he said.
“The most successful fund we have had in the city of Derby came out of Regional Growth Funding and it was called the DEGF – the Derby Enterprise Growth Fund – it was £20m, it’s a revolving fund and essentially it’s soft loans into businesses, SMEs, who are looking to grow.
“It’s probably retreaded once or twice already and if you are talking to an SME in Derby and they are aware of that, they’ll say ‘that was great because that allowed me to take the decision to move into new premises’, or they took the decision to grow the company.
“It’s that Heineken effect – so something that comes out on November 23, a couple of things that have Midlands Engine written on the top of it. Then you start to answer, because people start to see the benefits straight away. That is short term stuff but it is important.”
