WEST YORKSHIRE’S most prominent business-led organisations, Leeds City Region Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP) and the CBI, voiced their strongest criticisms yet of the lack of substance behind the Northern Powerhouse concept.
Chancellor George Osborne launched the Northern Powerhouse in June 2014 but the debate has become dominated by devolution. However Sheffield is the only part of Yorkshire to have agreed a deal with the government – although Manchester, Newcastle, Liverpool and the West Midlands have all now been able to announce the transfer of some budgets and powers.
“It may be for the Chancellor that success is he is elected Prime Minister”, said Roger Marsh, chairman of Leeds City Region LEP.
Speaking in front of an audience of businesspeople and academics at the University of Leeds, he expressed his frustration at the lack of direction being provided by politicians.
“I do feel very strongly that where we have got to in some of the rhetoric, it’s the governance tail wagging the economic dog,” he said.
“I feel quite frustrated by that. Unleashing the power of the north will deliver the transformation but it won’t happen in 30 minutes, it will take 10, 20, 30 years.
“I do think that those elected to run the country should contribute to what it looks like. If you don’t know what you are baking and putting in the Northern Powerhouse cooker, you can’t complain about what comes out.”
Lucy Thornycroft, regional director of the CBI, maintained that business remains “very supportive and enthusiastic of the idea”, but added: “It’s not actually clear sometimes what we are talking about in terms of the Northern Powerhouse.
She said: “There’s a bit of concern that the current focus is on devolution, but devolution is not in itself a mechanism that will deliver growth.
“A lot of the discussions have been on the politics and not the economics.
“There is concern that the business voice is not being heard as much as it should be in shaping it.”
They were speaking as part of a panel discussion at the University of Leeds that followed the launch of an economic impact report which showed the university makes a £1.3bn contribution to GDP.
