Mcr City Region: Let us drive growth agenda say leaders
MANCHESTER is in a strong position to take a lead in the national growth agenda, but needs the tools to do the job.
That is according to a panel of senior business and public sector leaders who gathered to debate the city-region’s economic prospects.
While optimistic that the right physical and business support infrastructures are in place, there was concern that Manchester’s full potential might not be realised – due to a lack of local decision-making power and resource.
The major factor is that most of spending is still controlled from Whitehall, rather than being determined locally.
Baron Frankal from the research organisation New Economy stated: “In Germany 18% of all spending in locality is determined from the centre. In France, which is much more centralised, its 32%. In the UK 72% of all decisions are made in Whitehall. We don’t really have the tools at our disposal to follow through.”
Sir Howard, chief executive of Manchester city council added: “Four years ago, before we all jumped off a cliff, £21bn of public sector money was being spent in Greater Manchester. Local government spend has been reduced dramatically but how much was spend in total last year? You’ve got it – £21bn.
“Except we’ve moved from investing in growth and infrastructure but now are spending on dependency and failure as levels of benefits have increased significantly.”
Sir Howard said that despite successive governments’ narrative around devolution and localism, the UK “remains one of the most centralised systems of government to be found anywhere in the world”.
The need for growth has never been greater, he said, and the UK should be moving towards a more consistent place-based approach.
“The Government shows signs at times of getting there but there is no consistency to deliver it,” he said, adding there is a fundamental belief in Whitehall that you manage economic growth and change from the centre.
