What does 2018 look like for Yorkshire?
The economy throughout 2017 has been challenging for Yorkshire businesses in many ways but leaders yesterday shared their views on how the region has a combined voice, the passion and “Yorkshire grit” which underpins our economy and looks set to begin 2018 on a positive note.
TheBusinessDesk.com’s Outlook 2018 seminar yesterday morning, supported by DLA Piper and Grant Thornton, saw panellists debate a wide range of challenges from Brexit, devolution, Northern Powerhouse to how businesses attract and retain the right talent and interact with the third sector going forward.
Reflecting firstly on 2017 so far, Andy Wood, managing partner of Grant Thornton in Leeds, said: “Uncertaintainty is the new norm” and that from the outset challenges with inflation rises, a dip in consumer confidence and Brexit had been clear but that businesses had approached them head-on and with confidence; adding that they were robust in their approach, showing real “Yorkshire grit.”
Allison Page
Allison Page, managing partner for DLA Piper in Leeds, said that a connected approach across the north was needed “from port to port” in order to achieve the economic prosperity that would see the region thrive next year and beyond.
Asked whether the Northern Powerhouse had run out of steam, Page said: “Absolutely not!”
A theme that Henri Murison, director of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, very much agreed with. Murison is supportive of both a devolution deal and mayoral system for Yorkshire. He urged: “Businesses need action, not just rhetoric. It’s not just trains, it’s about people too.”
Henri Murison
Murison added that other mayoral positions had allowed other regions to get collaborative agreement, without the need to involve lots of disjointed bodies to move forward, and that this needed to be addressed in 2018 and beyond.
Director of development for Caddick Construction and Moda Living, Lee Savage, said that the international companies he dealt with knew of the Northern Powerhouse, providing a worthwhile platform on which to raise the international reputation of the region. On one occasion, the Northern Powerhouse name managed to attract a major influencer to a important site abroad; therefore its economic power still stood strong ahead of the next year.
James Hawkins
James Hawkins, director of programmes for NHS Digital, which employs around 2,500 people in the region in the healthtech sector, said the organisation was intent on continually working closely with universities to ensure the right skills and talent are retained within the region.
Savage agreed that knowledge retention was essential for Yorkshire and for the industry he works in. Savage said that the firm was committing to Leeds with the new SOYO scheme in Quarry Hill despite challenges around the costs of construction
Allison Page and Lee Savage
and concerns in the industry around skills. He added that it wasn’t just about new shopping centres being built – instead the economy needed the stability of people having the jobs and wages next year in order to spend in our region going forward and seeing that prosperity continue.
But what economy does the millennial expect from Yorkshire and how does that steer what the wider economy offers?
Andy Wood
Wood said there was a real need for a vibrant economy into 2018 and said that Grant Thornton will continue to work directly with the next generation to inspire them into the workplace, across all sectors. He added: “CSR is so last decade. People want to work for a business with real purpose and they are getting more granular about that purpose.”
And Hawkins added that the whole mix of sports and culture were an attraction for the workforce at NHS Digital and that he believed firmly in continued focus and investment in this going forward to see the wider economy of the region benefit.
DLA Piper’s national Brexit director, Paul Hardy, said that manufacturing companies in particular had begun to make practical steps around the buying and selling of goods. However, he commented that although across all sectors firms are recognising the need, there are some “still burying their heads in the sand.”
Hardy said there had definitely been a pause in investment while businesses look to get more clarity on the matter. He added that in the coming week he expects there to be news on whether the government will successfully strike up a Brexit deal up or not; either way pushing businesses to approach 2018 with a sense of cautiousness.
Paul Hardy
Pushed about the European Commission’s recent decision which means Leeds cannot become the European Capital of Culture in 2023, he said that the commission should have been clear from the outset. Hardy has worked for European Commission and said the commission would not have allowed the UK to participate if outside the EU and he found it disappointing that it had only been announced recently it wouldn’t be possible.
One member of the audience said it was comforting to hear businesses talk about people and their part in the economy and that sometimes it could be “a bit fuzzy” between business and the third sector. Panellists Murison and Wood agreed that the thrid sector has a part to play in business going forward.
Commenting on what she is looking forward to in the coming year, Page added: “I am positive that there has been a resurgence of energy across business leadership, revitalising the economy in ways that is needed.”
The panel seemed to be in agreement that a combined Yorkshire voice, with devolved powers, “could lead the world, not just one city.”
