- PODCAST -
This episode welcomes Henry Kippin, Chief Executive of the North East Mayoral Strategic Authority, the recently renamed institution charged with turning devolution from an idea into economic momentum, and one of the UK’s most respected economists, Andy Haldane, former Chief Economist at the Bank of England, now working across universities, civic institutions and national policy debates.
Together, they bring different perspectives to the same question: why has the North East so often had the ingredients for success, but struggled to achieve sustained economic lift off?
The conversation explores today’s challenges and the opportunities presented by devolution – and how the region can make the most of it. They emphasise the need to tell a more ambitious, forward looking story and, crucially, to deliver on it.
They discuss how decades of under investment means there is huge potential for catch-up, and how devolution means the region has the strategic oversight to think big and joined up.
They discuss thinking bigger, working more collaboratively, and recognising the North East’s role as a trailblazer region.
Topics include the apprenticeship levy, private investment for capital investment, the fundamental importance of universities to economic growth, the need for fundamental reform of the skills system and apprenticeship levy, spin-outs, start-ups and scale-ups, innovation in public services and fiscal regimes, culture-based regeneration and the existential value of culture, ports and airports and much more!