What does the Industrial Strategy mean for places?

Building the foundations

From late 2012 to early 2015, the Coalition Government released a series of Industrial Strategies covering 11 sectors. Whilst they contained some important analysis and some sensible proposals, they felt decidedly low-key – as though the Government at the time were still a little afraid of the stigma of being seen to ‘pick winners’. They were also very much national strategies. Places were mainly acknowledged insofar as they were the site for existing assets or future investments.

The publication of the Industrial Strategy yesterday was very different. The message was that Government - and local governments and LEPs – have a key role to play in supporting the development and growth of new industries and addressing the challenges the UK faces in the 21st Century. In concentrating on five ‘foundations’, the Industrial Strategy has articulated the key elements needed to drive economic growth and has set out to address each of these.

Taking stock of the Autumn Budget 2017

Yesterday’s Budget comes at a challenging time for the Government, local government, LEPs and the UK economy. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) has reduced its forecast of GDP growth for 2017 by 0.5%, with growth expected to weaken further through to 2020. In large part this reflects poor growth in productivity since the recession. And, of course, all of this is before we factor in the possible impacts of Brexit.

A Derby-Nottingham metro area would boost growth

By Ben Lucas

This article originally appeared in the Local Government Chronicle. 

In the last couple of weeks both the president of the Confederation of British Industry and the Industrial Strategy Commission have noted that the East Midlands is one of the most significant areas of the country not to have its own clear voice on industrial strategy.

The success of the Midlands Engine and the imminence of the white paper on industrial strategy brings this into even starker focus.

It’s a large region that comprises several overlapping types of economy including urban/metro, former coalfields, market towns and rural areas. Each of these has distinctive as well as interconnected challenges and opportunities. They are represented by every tier of local government, from districts, through cities to counties.

Press Release for Derby-Nottingham Metro Economic Case Report

Their football teams may both have been managed by the legendary Brian Clough, but until recently the idea that Derby and Nottingham had much in common would have been anathema to many of their citizens.

But a detailed study prepared for Derby and Nottingham’s City Councils hails progress by the two cities to develop joint services and recommends extending this into a combined industrial strategy that will enable them to operate as a ‘metro’ unit economically.

Love London by all means - but dont forget about the rest

By Mike Emmerich

What’s good for London is good for the UK, right? Well yes, but that’s not the whole story.

Advocates for further devolution and public investment for London can point to myriad statistics which show how reliant the rest of the country has become on the capital. The latest ONS figures show that London produced a £26.6bn fiscal surplus (just over £3,000 per head) which is redistributed to fund public services in struggling regions. And if by ‘struggling’ we mean anywhere receiving more in public spending than it raises in tax, we can include every single region outside London and the wider South East.

And with London’s GVA running at about 170% of the UK average, it’s easy to make the argument that investment in London delivers a bigger bang for the buck.

Devo is not a fig leaf for austerity. rejecting it will scupper social progress

By Mike Emmerich, Director

To paraphrase a certain politician, is no deal better than a bad deal?

That’s the question many in South Yorkshire will be scratching their heads over following the apparent demise of the Sheffield City Region’s push for devolution. For many, the decision by Barnsley and Doncaster to walk away represents a huge lost opportunity. But some may be feeling a certain sense of relief, coupled with a ‘told-you-so’ satisfaction.

I’m writing this having been drawn into a debate with academics Martin Jones and David Etherington concerning a recent blog post based on their report, Devolution and Disadvantage in the Sheffield City Region. The original paper is good and makes many valid points. But my concern was, and is, that in some circumstances analysis of a kind found in the subsequent blog can overcomplicate matters and play into the politics of the issue in a way I fear we might live to regret if followed to its logical conclusion.

Teething troubles for Combined Authorities must not be mistaken for failure

By Mike Emmerich, Director

Britain loves nothing more than to build up people and institutions in public life and then to participate in the spectacle of their destruction.

Not even three months since the election of a crop of new metro mayors for Combined Authorities across England, we’re already seeing the process start. The National Audit Office (NAO) report in early July said little more than that it is early days for Combined Authorities and much remains to be done to make a success of them. Yet some of the reporting of their findings seemed gleefully to anticipate their failure.

A weak and wobbly centre creates opportunity for enterprising cities

By Patrick White, Director

 

This week’s Queen’s Speech was notable for its absences. Many of the least popular election pledges – widely blamed for the Conservatives’ disaster at the polls – were summarily junked.

Denounced by Labour as “threadbare”, Theresa May’s programme for the next two years certainly seemed to come from a government with few new policy clothes. Coming the same week as the start of the fractious Brexit negotiations, it’s becoming clear that serious structural reform for local government will now be put firmly on the backburner. Any legislation that might attract even a murmur from backbench dissenters is unlikely to be contemplated.