Invest North report launches to recommend policies to boost prosperity in the region

Policy recommendations to aimed at driving up prosperity across the North of England have had the support of politicians from across the political spectrum.

The Invest North report, produced by TheBusinessDesk.com with the backing of partners including Lloyds Bank, Northern Powerhouse Partnership, Phoenix Group, and Squire Patton Boggs, was launched on Wednesday 19th July at an event in Parliament. Attendees included business leaders and senior politicians from across the region.

The Invest North report, compiled with the contributions of over 150 businesses from across the region, sets out 12 key policy recommendations for helping drive economic success. Recommendations focus on four existing key strengths for the region’s economy – energy and net zero, manufacturing and materials, digital and culture, and health innovation – and five other cross-cutting policy areas:

• Confident North – long-term private sector and government commitments to support the region
• Devolution – ensuring local leadership to solve the region’s challenges
• Investment – unlocking a pipeline of investment propositions throughout the North
• Skills and education – accessing the potential of the region’s population through access to training opportunities
• Connectivity – investing in the region’s transport, infrastructure and logistics needs

At the Invest North report’s launch event, Levelling-Up minister Felicity Buchan, encouraged businesses to to make their case for the region in Westminster; she said:

“It isn’t only mayors who are empowered to make the case for change. All the other players and their teams, the local business leaders, those in education, also have the tools, the funds and the freedom to drive the region as an industrial and economic powerhouse.

“It is in the clear interests of the whole country that we have an even stronger north. “The best people to get this done are the people who live and work in the north – leaders like you who can drive progress in the north.”

Shadow business minister Chi Onwurah also expressed her support for the report’s recommendations, saying:

“The report is a testament to the way we work, as you can see by the number of partners.

“Across the north, we work in partnership – and we have to work in partnership to get that concentration of ideas and investment and, to be honest, media coverage.

“But also it’s testament to the talent, ingenuity and immense potential of our region and I’m so pleased to see the report again identify the North’s strength and potential in tech, manufacturing, life sciences and green investment.”

John Stevenson MP, chair of the Northern Research Group of ‘Red Wall’ Conservative MPs and the host of the Parliamentary reception, added:

“The recommendations in your report, I think every single one of them is something we can get behind.

“I very much hope that your report does have good traction within government and within businesses as well across the north. “We all recognise as northerners that we need to rebalance our country, we need to make sure that the North actually fulfils its potential and makes an invaluable contribution to our national economy.”

The full Invest North report is available to download and read in full from TheBusinessDesk.com website here.