Northern summit asks how region can build greener, fairer, prosperous future

Three of the North’s mayors spelled out their economic priorities for the region at The Great Northern Conference 2023 in Bradford City Hall today – 11 September.

Oliver Coppard, South Yorkshire Mayor, Andy Burnham, Greater Manchester Mayor and Tracy Brabin, West Yorkshire Mayor, spoke at the event which was hosted by The Northern Powerhouse Partnership (NPP) and National World – owner of the Yorkshire Post.

They were introduced by Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe, leader of Bradford Council and Henri Murison, director of NPP.

Hinchcliffe highlighted recent findings published by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) which warn UK social mobility is the worst it has been in more than 50 years.

“That has got to be wrong,” she said. “We are driven by social purpose and we must make sure this is a fair place to live and somewhere people can live well regardless of where they happen to be born.”

Murison added: “We’ve had a lot of promises in the north of England by many past Prime Ministers, but we’ve not necessarily seen those realised and turned into action.”

He pointed to the “huge” gap in R&D investment in the North as well as the opportunities and risks for employment posed by the shift to Net Zero.

Tracy Brabin

Brabin focused on the North’s ongoing struggle with its faltering public transport network – singling out the 18 months of “mayhem and misery” on the troubled Trans Pennine Express railway.

“We stood together and embarrassed the Government into putting the company into public ownership,” she said. “That collective voice is very powerful.”

Addressing the current threat to shut down railway station ticket offices, she said the proposed closure programme is clearly a smokescreen for cutting jobs.

“The uproar has been profound and we’ve collectively been able to say to the Government that we will take you to court, because we will not roll over and accept this,” she said.

Brabin said the economy suffers because people are being unable to take up their preferred jobs or chosen university places due to inadequate public transport – despite her authority’s efforts to invest in and improve bus services.

Andy Burnham

Burnham said the voice of the North is louder and more united than it has been before but real change now needs to be achieved before people become disillusioned.

“Manchester’s economy has been growing faster that the UK average, which shows devolution is working even if it’s not as fast as we’d like,” he said.

He explained how Manchester wants to create the UK’s first integrated technical education system, with a Greater Manchester Baccalaureate introduced to meet the needs of this region’s economy.

Burnham said nine colleges are already on board with these plans, which will begin to be implemented in September 2024.

Turning to the longer-term picture, he added: “The North should have a vision of being a net exporter of green energy. We can therefore reindustrialise the North, but in a good way. We need to be selling that vision for the North of England to the Labour Party front bench.”

Coppard concentrated on the path towards Net Zero, which South Yorkshire aims to reach by 2040.

Oliver Coppard

“Globally we have to remove 51 billion tons of carbon equivalent gases per day from the atmosphere – that’s a huge challenge and every business will be touched by it,” he said.

He pointed out South Yorkshire had already been through a traumatic energy transition in the 1970s and 1980s when its mines were closed down with no plan to handle the resulting mass unemployment.

“The mining industry in South Yorkshire created communities and when the mines went those communities were fractured,” he said.

He said people in the region still remember this, so must be fully involved with and brought on board the Net Zero project if it is to succeed.

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