Making Connections Welcome...
skills and well-being. Research shows that the South-East of England is the wealthiest and most productive
T
regional economy in Western Europe. However, the UK also features several times in a list of the ten poorest regions of Europe. This is of a direct result of our country having one of the most centrally-governed economies in the world. The case to rebalance the UK economy is unequivocal and it needs to take
place urgently. It means that economic investment must be prioritised towards the North of England and the decisions on prioritisation and deployment should be delegated to regionally empowered governing structures that already exist. We have to act. While there are some hugely positive things going on in our
economy, we have the lowest productivity of any of the eight city regions in England. That means our economy is overly dependent on low skilled, low paid jobs. While digitisation will provide many new skilled opportunities in the future, the automation of many processes that are done manually today will mean that low skilled jobs will be the first to be replaced. And so, without a significant transformation of our economy, from a low skilled economy to higher skilled and better paid jobs, the employment market in our regional economy will shrink. Fortunately, there is growing recognition that the answers to rebalancing England’s
‘The case
to rebalance the UK economy is
unequivocal and it needs to take place urgently’
economy do not lie in Westminster and Whitehall but rather in the regions with the mayoral authorities who are embedded in their respective communities. The recent Empowering English Cities report, chaired by Lord Heseltine, made several recommendations about how the Government could and should empower our towns and cities. If the Government gets it right and truly empowers local areas then the outcomes would
be extraordinary; if the North of England’s productivity achieved the same level as the South East, the UK’s GDP would increase by more than £100bn a year. My task, and that of the Local Enterprise Partnership is to develop a strategy that delivers
transformational change in the region. We will do it by working hand in glove with the Mayoralty to get the strategy right and secure the resources to transform the region into a sustainable, inclusive, and highly productive economy. It’s a prize worth fighting for.
4 CHAMBERconnect Summer 2019
he North-South divide in the UK is plain to see. The absence of devolved regional power and influence to drive economic progress has led to a huge disparity between North and South in terms of productivity, economic contribution, investment, transport connectivity and, consequently, educational outcomes,
...to Chamber Connect
James Muir, Chair of the Sheffield City Region Local Enterprise Partnership, discusses the importance of rebalancing the UK’s economy to avoid furthering a North-South divide.
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