This short report was first published, in an abridged format, as a lead story for our Nouseletter.
Earlier in September, the leaders of the regional assemblies of the north got together to publish The Manifesto for the North, a 37-page document outlining their plans for devolved regional development and cooperation on issues of trade and investment, achieving net-zero, transportation, and people and place. The manifesto provides a list of shared goals to work towards which will aim to see the north of England act in a unified way to tackle its shared challenges, primarily decades of systemic underfunding of the region. The manifesto is keen to highlight the economic potential of a united north, a region of 15.3 million residents, contributing £371bn in annual GVA, and a region which provides £98.4bn of the UK’s total exports. The overall economic goal that the policies in the manifesto are working towards is that of increasing the economy of the North by £118bn p.a by 2050. The concept of economic growth is central to redressing the economic gap in GDP between the North and South, one which currently stands at higher than that between East and West Germany in 1989.
Boosting the region’s economy will take a combined effort and will integrate all areas of regional development. The manifesto outlines plans to boost trade and investment directly by developing and marketing investable northern products such as Clean Growth Technologies and Life Sciences. Moreover, the manifesto outlines plans to increase investment in research and development from £11.7bn to 18.5bn by 2050. However, the Manifesto is vague in how this money will be spent and does little to alleviate concerns amongst higher education institutions about chronic underfunding. The Manifesto acknowledges that the region boasts some of the best Universities in the world as well as a student population of over 1 million. Furthermore, it states that investment in such institutions in upwards of £6bn a year by 2030 would stimulate further private investment. By the 2050’s with this additional funding its estimated higher educational institutions would generate £22bn of GVA and add 106,400 jobs into the region. Yet whilst it acknowledges the importance of Universities to the Northern economy, the Manifesto outlines no commitments to following through on this greater investment, aside from stating that it will be beneficial.
Another key aspect of developing the economy is making the most of the North’s ability to be a clean energy centre for the UK as well as making the most of its green spaces to contribute to Net-Zero. The manifesto aims to reduce carbon emissions by 75.1 million Tonnes by 2050. For context 76.3 million tonnes were produced per year in 2024. Key to achieving Net-Zero is increasing capacity on the network to allow for efficient energy storage and transfer. One way in which this is already being achieved is through the proposed Anglo-Scottish electricity ‘superhighway,’ running under the sea and connecting up to Drax power station near Goole. This will cost £3.4 billion and aim to power up to 2 million homes. Further investment in green energy is also essential, as 50.7% of England’s renewable energy is already being generated in the North. Further investment will also stimulate research and provide new jobs in the clean energy sector.
The manifesto makes it clear that the backbone of this improved Northern economy is an improved transportation system. The manifesto outlines several policies that will hopefully make railways and buses more efficient and reliable. One key change is the introduction of multi-year budgets for transportation providers to facilitate long-term planning and providing greater financial security and predictability into the sector. The Manifesto also makes some bold commitments to delivering Northern Powerhouse rail in full, which it hopes will boost productivity in the region by 2%, this will also help to secure the lost potential capacity upgrades following the scrapping of HS2’s northern legs. Improved public transportation will be essential to helping to achieve economic growth in the region, by shrinking time and space between economic hubs and higher educational facilities, allowing for a more skilled workforce and greater access to good paying jobs from more remote communities. Key to getting more people to use public transportation is making it affordable, and whilst no commitments have been made there is an official recognition that fares need to be lowered to make the most of what public transport has to offer.
The final component of development outlined in the manifesto is people and place. This aims to improve life chances, make the most of cultural and heritage spots and provide opportunities for people. The manifesto launch coincided with the announcement of One Creative North, a £50m loan fund available to creative industries in the North to help finance and support the arts in the North, helping to address issues of underfunded creative industries in recent years. In regard to place, the manifesto outlines the promotion of location tourism, whether that’s promoting its 6 world heritage sites, or its 11 national parks. £6.75m in Destination Development Partnerships has been promised, which will go into developing locations and advertising to attract greater tourism to the region.
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