Mixed reception for £556m Northern Powerhouse deals

Silver Jubilee Bridge, Manchester, part of Manchester Combined Authority. Photo: KR Craft / Pixabay, CC0

Local government has given a cautious welcome to £556m Northern Powerhouse growth deal funding announced this week as part of the government’s emerging industrial strategy.

Prime minister Theresa May launched the strategy with the aim of spreading growth across the UK.

The deals form a third round of funding for 11 local enterprise partnerships in the Northern Powerhouse area, to provide cash for local infrastructure and skills projects.

Andrew Percy. Photo: DCLG, CC

Northern Powerhouse minister Andrew Percy said: “This is more government money directly

invested into the Northern Powerhouse. It is further proof that we will back the people of the North with the resources they need to reach their full potential.”

Liverpool mayor Joe Anderson, chair of the Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, added: “There are challenges we need to face but this announcement will help us be more ambitious about our national and international successes, using our unique assets, location and capabilities to combine the strength of the Northern Powerhouse.”

He added that the announcement demonstrated that local public-private delivery partnerships are working effectively.

The announcement provided greater rewards for city regions in the north which have installed directly elected mayors. The Greater Manchester city region was awarded £130.1m, while Leeds — without an elected mayor — got just £67.5m, even though its population is higher at three million people.

Liverpool City Region. Photo: DCLG, CC

Tom Bridges, Leeds city council’s chief officer for economy and regeneration, complained that Manchester gets more cash per head than any other location in the North.

Speaking to the Guardian, he said: “We talk about a north-south divide in public investment in transport, science and culture. Increasingly an east-west divide across [the] North.”

And Rebecca Long-Bailey MP, Labour’s shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, said the £556m “pales into insignificance” against government cuts to local authority funding.

She said: “Local authorities lost £18bn of government funding in real terms between 2010 and 15, with the poorest councils bearing the brunt of the cuts.

“From what we have seen of the government’s industrial strategy so far, I am not convinced they are committed to the long-term investment needed to transform the northern economy.”

The 11 local enterprise partnerships in the Northern Powerhouse have been awarded: