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Exclusive Interview: Northern Powerhouse Minister James Wharton

Over the past three months Bdaily has conducted a series of Q and A interviews with North East business leaders, hailing from a range of sectors and industries, to gauge regional feeling towards the government’s Northern Powerhouse initiative.

At the end of February we asked you to get involved and the response we’ve had has been nothing short of incredible. Time and time again we hear about the passion North Easterners have for business and we’re proud to provide a platform which makes your voice heard.

Whilst awareness of the Northern Powerhouse phrase has increased since George Osborne first coined it two years ago, we contended that growing consciousness had not necessarily produced greater understanding of what the initiative actually is.

With comprehensive understanding lacking we wished to bring both business and government views together to help improve our collective understanding.

Having heard from a plethora of business people, we culminate the series with an exclusive interview with the Northern Powerhouse Minister himself, James Wharton.

Mr Wharton has been keeping up with the views presented and addressed both confusion and concern regarding issues raised, as well as revealing his excitement for plans unfolding.

James explained: “To me, the Northern Powerhouse is all about recognising and unlocking the incredible potential that the economies of the North of England has.

“We want to give those who best understand that potential more control over the economic direction that the North takes.”

Hailing from Teesside being born and raised in Stockton, James described the importance of the Powerhouse to him personally.

“I’m greatly privileged to represent my home town in parliament but added to that I now have the opportunity to be part of something that I think will make a real change to the way our regional economy develops.”

Conversely, many in the North East have criticised the initiative, branding it incapable of making such change.

However, the Minister was quick to point out the scale of the task at hand, emphasising that change will take time but, positively for the region, momentum has begun.

“This is a long-term project which is putting in the foundations for future growth”, he explained.

“We’re addressing part of our economy and part of our country that has, when compared with the south and London, underperformed for generations.”

Many respondents to our investigation felt that the whole idea of a stronger North still seemed conceptual and many hinted that quick wins may be needed to transform Northern mindsets, such as concrete constructions that people can visibly see and touch.

James, however, warned that a course of action must be pursued which feeds into a holistic vision committed to benefitting generations to come.

“If you want a lasting solution to address that challenge it’s not about sticking banners or buildings up”, he continued.

“We’ve seen all sorts of short-term fixes that have never actually delivered the good for the North East, this is about long-term structural change.”

Indeed the Minister is far happier to see progress in devolution deals as opposed to seeing offices branded with flashing neon ‘Northern Powerhouse’ slogans.

“But this [abstract progress] is already materialising, we’re seeing that devolution deals are being agreed.

“We’ve got deals now agreed across large parts of the north. The North East has two deals, they are agreed and we will deliver those.

“We’ll start to see people talking about that process, we’ll start to see people wanting to be Mayor, we’ll start to see people talk about what the Mayor should be doing.

“We’ll see the media engaging in it and actually it’ll get that conversation going that focus on what our region really needs to do and that is what devolution is about.”

One of the biggest worries held by North East respondents was the view that the likes of Greater Manchester, specifically, are already too far beyond our region.

Many expressed concern of a North East being given the right to determine its own future, yet being too far behind other Northern regions to actually play an important enough role in the North’s reshaping as a whole.

“There’s no denying that Manchester is ahead of the game”, admitted James. However the Minister was unequivocal in giving assurances that the North East has a vital role to play in the Powerhouse progressing.

“Yes, [Manchester] got the first deal. Their deal has evolved, they’ve added more to it, they work well and cohesively together and now they’re seeing the benefits of that positive outlook and engagement in the process.

“But the North East is a key part of this project and indeed if it’s going to work, we need to be. I think we were behind Manchester and I think there are still things we need to do to maximise our potential but the building blocks are falling into place now.

“We’ve also got to remember that it’s not about just copying what Manchester does, it’s about learning from some of the benefits about how Manchester does things but recognising as well that what you need in Tees Valley for instance is different to what you need in Greater Manchester.”

Responding as to whether North East businesses should be worried, he reiterated: “No. I’m from the North East. The last thing I want to see is the region not being apart of this debate, not part of this project.

“There is no denying there have been political challenges to devolution agreements, and there remains the issue of Gateshead, but actually we’ve come an awful long way!

“If you’d said to me a year ago that we would get the leaders if all but one of the North East’s authorities to sign up to devolution, to agree to elected Mayors, to have the deal with the government agreed about what sort of powers they want to see devolved to the region and engaging in this process, I think we’d have seen it as quite a challenging outcome to secure.

So where do businesses come in?

James answered: “We need to keep pushing and businesses need to be there articulating their views, for example voicing opinions of who Mayors should be.

“The North East is a brilliant place, we’ve got world beating industries like Nissan and Hitachi to companies like Nifco, in my constituency, which is expanding and doing great work.

“Businesses have a chance to sell our region to the world and should be at the forefront in doing so.”

Yet what seems to puzzle many business people, and this being those eager and willing to get involved in building a stronger region, is the practicalities of the powerhouse.

What, if anything, can be done on ground level? What role can be played by those who aren’t sat around a table discussing devolution and the like.

James said: “It’s true in almost every aspect of life, if you wait for somebody to come and tell you what to do you’ll wait a long time and you will stifle innovation. I’m not going to say, this is exactly what Northern businesses should do.”

“But what I would say is we want big and small businesses to engage. This can be through organisations like Business North, engaging and talking to your Local Enterprise Partnership and simply telling them what you need.”

So what next for the Powerhouse in the North East? One big question starting to come to the forefront of business discussion surrounds individual leaders. Who should the Mayors be?

“We want somebody who has a vision for our local economies and someone who understands business. We want somebody who can be a figurehead and a leader that people can look up to.

“The Mayor is going to have a huge mandate from the people of the North East and Tees Valley and I want it to be someone who is going to drive real change for our benefit. I hope more people will come forward and offer us a real choice.”

Bdaily will continue its dedicated Northern Powerhouse coverage indefinitely, updating readers on progress as and when it happens.

Again we’d like to thank all respondents who got involved with our investigation. Click here to revisit regional opinion on the topics discussed.

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