Member Article

Five things we learned from the UK Northern Powerhouse Conference 2016

Ed Cox, Director of IPPR North – the UKNP ’policy partner’ – shares some early reflections on the UKNP conference.

1. The Northern Powerhouse is generating its own momentum

With 300 delegates, a packed auditorium from beginning to end, a bustling exhibition area and Powerhouse-branded collateral everywhere, the conference marks a watershed.

The notion of a Northern Powerhouse has moved from being a government initiative to a business-led bandwagon that everybody wants to jump onto and when you bring stakeholders and competitors together in this way, innovation happens, deals are brokered and the agenda gathers momentum.

Alongside the recent launch of Business North there is a genuine sense that a large section of the private sector has moved from scepticism to cautious support and both indigenous and international players are wanting a piece of the action.

2. Phase 2 might be coming but Phase 1 has a lot of unfinished business

Jim O’Neill kicked off the conference with the assertion that the Powerhouse project is still in its infancy but the ‘phase 1’ focus on transport and devolution is now moving towards a ‘phase 2’ focus on skills, education and business. He is surely right that the agenda must be extended and after SirMichael Wilshaw’s interventions earlier in the week a greater focus on our human capital is timely.

But numerous delegates used the platform to explain the importance of public-private partnership when investing in long-term infrastructure and with a new Northern Transport Strategy, the National Infrastructure Commission’s report on Northern Connectivity and the budget all just days away, Osborne will not be let off the hook if he does not put his money where his mouth is.

Business investment on the scale suggested at the conference still depends on getting ‘phase 1’ right and as David Higgins, Chair of HS2, pointed out: public investment unlocks private.

3. John Cridland is a worthy champion of the Powerhouse cause

Any doubts about the appointment of the former CBI chief as independent chair of Transport for the North were quickly dispelled when John Cridland got to his feet. He spoke with eloquence about the Powerhouse as a “new lens on an old problem … an enabler of rising living standards and aspirations for the people of the North … every person generating £5000 more in GVA”.

He spoke about people more than process – something so vital if protagonists are to dispel cynicism about the Powerhouse agenda. Leadership and governance issues were never far from the surface of the debate. The city chief execs put on a well-polished display of unanimity on almost every topic and did easily enough to marginalise Lord Prescott’s calls for a more joined-up and democratic body for the North but as Transport for the North spreads its wings, time will tell whether John Cridland will become the spokesman for all things Northern.

4. The Chinese want a plan

One notable aspect of the city chief executives session was their shared passion for inward investment, indeed it seemed at times that this was the only item on their job descriptions with some Northern businesses sharing privately their disquiet that their own on-going investment seemed somehow ignored. But when a senior Chinese investor was interviewed and asked what single thing needed to be done to secure Chinese investment his answer was simple: “a clear development plan”.

As with other international visitors, there was some incredulity that theNorthern Powerhouse had no plan and that transport investment was being considered in the absence of a clear understanding about the roles of different towns and cities, where key innovation clusters lie and how the energy system plugs in. London has one too – initiated by Transport for London. Surely this is a critical priority ahead of next year’s conference?

5. There is a real need for long-term thinking about a different kind of economy

Some of the most interesting interventions at the conference cast our minds well beyond ‘phases 1 and 2’ but to say ‘phase 5’. In a discussion on rail, ports and logistics, a question was raised about the rapid rise of 3D printing and the internet of things and its possible impact on freight movement.

The panel riffed around the margins of the topic: clearly more thinking needed here. In the discussion on energy, it took a full 45 minutes before someone mentioned solar power and advances in storage technologies and once again the panellists fell quiet (John Humphrys concluding the session with the observation that energy policy was in an utter mess). And even the panel on finance laboured around well-worn conversations until someone mentioned crowdfunding and discussion came alive.

If the momentum being generated by the Northern Powerhouse idea is to flourish then it must look to the long-term future. The brief glimpses of innovation and inspiration we saw at the conference must become the foundations for a different kind of economy, led once again by the entrepreneurs of the North.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ed Cox .