Is the new Chancellor a Northern Powerhouse champion?
THE new Chancellor Phillip Hammond has said that investment in transport is “crucial” to helping Northern cities realise their economic potential.
Although he did not comment directly on the long-term vision or future of the Northern Powerhouse concept, speaking to Nick Ferrari on LBC radio, Hammond did say that prosperity has to be better spread across the country.
Asked by Ferrari how “enamoured” he was with the Northern Powerhouse initiative, Hammond said: “I think that it’s been clear and obvious for many years that if Britain is going to be a sustainably prosperous country we have to spread the prosperity across the nation.
“We can’t just have it clustered in the South East of England, and the investment particularly in transport infrastructure to allow the potential of our northern cities in particular to be realized is a crucial contribution to the overall prosperity of the economy going forward, and I believe that those big transport infrastructure projects are going to be key to Britain’s future.”
Prime Minister Theresa May has yet to declare her position on the Northern Powerhouse agenda and indeed the future of James Wharton, the MP for Stockton South, as Northern Powerhouse minister.
On Monday, May said that she planned to help “not one or even two of our great regional cities, but every single one of them” – whether this means a widening of the Northern Powerhouse strategy or a complete change in direction is as yet unclear.
What is stark is the fact that just one of the MPs to make the cabinet in the new Prime Minister’s reshuffle represents a northern constituency – that’s Brexit minister David David, MP for Haltemprice and Howden in Yorkshire.
But there are other northern allies: business secretary Greg Clark hails from Middlesbrough and in his previous role as secretary of state for local government was a devolution champion.
Justice secretary Liz Truss, MP for South West Norfolk, lived in Leeds and attended Roundhay School as a child, while chief whip Gavin Williamson, the MP for South Staffordshire, grew up in Scarborough before attending Bradford University.
Meanwhile, the Institute of Directors has called on business leaders to drive the next stage of the Northern Powerhouse int he wake of a “political vacuum”.
In a joint statement, Jonathan Oxley, Mike Perls and Graham Robb, the chairs of the IoD in the Yorkshire and the Humber, the North West and North East respectively, have urged businesses to become “heroes” of the Powerhouse.
Following the analysis of pan-Northern capabilities highlighted in Transport for North’s Independent Economic Review, they have identified a series of industry clusters that will act as a catalyst for the next stage of Northern Powerhouse activity, including advanced manufacturing, health innovation and fintech.
In a joint statement, they said: “In the current climate of political change the IoD is sending out a signal that business not only wants to see action to rebalance the economy but is willing to play its part.
“We believe the Northern Powerhouse has the potential to create globally significant, functional economic clusters. Transport infrastructure will be an enabler of this objective but it is long term and is not the entire solution.
“Business leaders have a critical role to play right now and must move to fill the political vacuum and take ownership of this initiative.”
In the coming months the IoD will announce specific, cluster-based activity and call on business leaders to take part and set the direction that the new Government should follow, it said.
