Member Article

Concluding Bdaily’s Northern Powerhouse series and looking ahead

For over three months now I’ve been talking to North East business leaders in an attempt to understand the region’s feelings towards the government’s Northern Powerhouse initiative.

Two years have passed since George Osborne first coined the term, yet many still struggle to understand and agree on what this phrase actually means.

My investigation, surveying regional business opinion, has hoped to add coherence to the concept.

Two years ago, Mr Osborne told us: “We need a Northern Powerhouse too. Not one city, but a collection of northern cities - sufficiently close to each other that combined they can take on the world.”

In short, the Chancellor revealed that to rebalance the UK economy and to unlock the North’s potential, the government would begin by investing in improving connectivity between Northern cities to create a stronger economic power.

Like any government decree, this has been met with a mixed response. Bdaily has acted, and continues to act, as one platform for such response to be aired and explored.

Response

Launching our dedicated ‘Northern Powerhouse Hub’ in March, we’ve strived to project and amplify the views of regional businesses.

From industrial veterans to aspiring entrepreneurs, the response we’ve had to our investigation been incredible. This is an issue which people want to confront, to discuss and to learn more about.

Views have been collected and logged and have since been presented to the Northern Powerhouse Minister himself, James Wharton, who was keen to discuss our findings and respond to the views forwarded by North East businesses.

Look out for Bdaily’s exclusive interview with James on monday’s bulletin as we conclude our series. To both our respondents and our readers, I thank you for taking the time to be involved.

To revisit interviews from the series and to read the thoughts of North East business leaders in relation to the Northern Powerhouse click hereto scroll through a list of interviews to explore.