Senior figures from the two main political parties have addressed an audience of northern business leaders today (Monday 9 December) in Manchester and Yorkshire and set out their party’s approach to the Northern Powerhouse.
This was in response to the challenge laid down by the Northern Powerhouse Partnership (NPP) at the start of the election campaign, who called on senior leaders from each of the main parties to come and speak to the north and address the critical issues that matter to the 15 million people living in the wider northern region.
Rebecca Long-Bailey, shadow secretary of state for business, energy and industrial strategy, set out her party’s plans to a business audience in Manchester, on tackling the inequalities that exist between north and south, the barriers to a balanced country.
In Yorkshire, chancellor of the exchequer Sajid Javid, took part in a Q&A event with northern business leaders, giving an opportunity for the north’s voice to be heard in this election campaign.
Following the election result, the NPP will be seeking the following commitments from whoever forms the next government:
Henri Murison, director of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership said: “This election has seen the north come in and out of focus, however, as we start the final week of the campaign major players from both main parties will each speak to a business audience and give their party’s response to the challenge we laid down at the beginning of the campaign.
“This election offers our political parties a golden opportunity no government in living memory has achieved – to rebalance the UK economy, capturing a trillion-pound economic gain for the country over the coming decades.”
Lord O’Neill, vice-chair of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership said: “This is an opportunity for the two main political parties to put some real, credible and affordable commitments on the table. With polling day fast approaching, this is the last chance to truly demonstrate their party’s getting serious about the North, in particular transforming transport, better education and meaningful devolution, as northern voters’ decisions will be what the result will likely rest on.”