Think tank calls for new ‘Northern Big Bang’

The Centre for Policy Studies has said that billions of pounds of private sector investment could be unlocked in the North of England and create an economic Big Bang for the region.

Alongside the Northern Research Group of MPs, the think tank’s new report argues that London and the South East have monopolised investment, talent and attention in recent years. At present, the Northern economy, measured by Gross Value Added per capita, is three quarters the size of England's average.

Jake Berry MP, chair of the Northern Research Group of MPs, and Nick King, CPS Research Fellow and former government advisor, are calling on the Prime Minister to mirror the radicalism of Thatcher’s Big Bang in the 80s, and reward the voters who lent him their vote and contributed to the Conservative majority in 2019. Their joint report sets out a series of recommendations on how to stimulate private sector investment and create a globally recognised, economic powerhouse in the North of England. The aim would be to replicate the impact of the 1980s Big Bang, which unlocked billions of pounds of investment in London and the South East, but with a set of measures which reflect the North’s existing strengths and future potential.

It calls for a new Initial Investment Incentive – a cash payment to attract new investments and global capital to the region. This could be focused explicitly on green growth and meeting Net Zero, for example by incentivising investment into new gigafactories which would help spur a Green Industrial Revolution.

The paper also calls for automatic approval for planning applications which create more than 100 permanent new jobs in the region when they have not been determined within two months, and an optional, alternative, fast-track planning process for investors planning to plough £20 million into the local economy, or whose investment will unlock over 250 jobs.

Berry said: “At the last election millions of Northern voters broke with tradition by voting for the Conservative Party, in many cases for the first time. The Prime Minister needs to recognise that they did so not only to deliver Brexit, but to voice the systemic disadvantages felt in many communities that were tired of being neglected in favour of London and the South East. The measures we have put forward will help the Prime Minister and this government to ‘level up’ the economy and help make the North build back better as one of the most investable places in modern times."

King added: This government has taken positive steps to deliver more public investment in infrastructure, but what the North needs is the scale of investment – and dynamism – that only the private sector can bring. There is a huge amount of domestic and global capital ready to be invested. Our recommendations are designed to make the North of England one of the most investable places on the planet and to unleash this capital through a Northern Big Bang."