Northern Powerhouse Partnership
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The Northern Powerhouse was a proposal to boost economic growth in the
North of England Northern England, or the North of England, refers to the northern part of England and mainly corresponds to the historic counties of Cheshire, Cumberland, Durham, Lancashire, Northumberland, Westmorland and Yorkshire. Officially, it is a gr ...
by the 2010–2015 coalition government and 2015–2016 Conservative government in the United Kingdom, particularly in the " Core Cities" of
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,
Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
,
Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
,
Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...
,
Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...
and
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...
. The proposal was based on the benefits of agglomeration and aimed to reposition the British economy away from London and the South East, where most of the UK's wealth was historically concentrated. The spatial footprint of the Northern Powerhouse was defined as the 11
local enterprise partnership In England, local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) were voluntary partnerships between local authorities and businesses, set up in 2011 by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to help determine local economic priorities and lead ec ...
areas of the North of England. The proposal involved improvement to transport links, investment in science and innovation, and
devolution Devolution is the statutory delegation of powers from the central government of a sovereign state to govern at a subnational level, such as a regional or local level. It is a form of administrative decentralization. Devolved territori ...
of powers in City Deals. Former MP for Stockton South James Wharton was appointed as minister responsible for the proposal in May 2015. A 2018 investigation by ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' indicated he rarely left London to visit the northern areas, however. In October 2015, during
General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party The general secretary of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party ( zh, s=中国共产党中央委员会总书记, p=Zhōngguó Gòngchǎndǎng Zhōngyāng Wěiyuánhuì Zǒngshūjì) is the leader of the Chinese Communist Part ...
Xi Jinping Xi Jinping, pronounced (born 15 June 1953) is a Chinese politician who has been the general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and Chairman of the Central Military Commission (China), chairman of the Central Military Commission ...
's visit to the UK, Prime Minister
David Cameron David William Donald Cameron, Baron Cameron of Chipping Norton (born 9 October 1966) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2010 to 2016. Until 2015, he led the first coalition government in the UK s ...
announced that the Northern Powerhouse proposal had "Chinese backing". Under the government of
Theresa May Theresa Mary May, Baroness May of Maidenhead (; ; born 1 October 1956), is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Conservative Party from 2016 to 2019. She previously served as Home Secretar ...
who became Prime Minister in July 2016, it was alleged that the focus on the North was to be downgraded into a nationwide agenda for boosting productivity outside the south-east. However, she subsequently contradicted this, pledging to "help the great cities and towns of the North pool their strengths and take on the world". In September 2016, one of the main architects of the Northern Powerhouse project, Lord O'Neill, resigned from the Government and quit the
Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...
benches in the
upper house An upper house is one of two Legislative chamber, chambers of a bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house. The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smaller and often has more restricted p ...
.


Transport improvements

Transport for the North Transport for the North (TfN) is the first statutory sub-national transport body in the United Kingdom. It was formed in 2018 to make the case for strategic transport improvements across the North of England. Creating this body represented ...
(TfN) was formed in April 2018 as the first statutory sub-national transport body in the UK. Working with
central government A central government is the government that is a controlling power over a unitary state. Another distinct but sovereign political entity is a federal government, which may have distinct powers at various levels of government, authorized or deleg ...
and local and national transport bodies, TfN aims to develop and deliver strategic transport infrastructure across the
North of England Northern England, or the North of England, refers to the northern part of England and mainly corresponds to the historic counties of Cheshire, Cumberland, Durham, Lancashire, Northumberland, Westmorland and Yorkshire. Officially, it is a gr ...
. Proposed transport improvements include
Northern Powerhouse Rail Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR), sometimes referred to unofficially as High Speed 3, is a proposed major rail programme designed to substantially enhance the economic potential of the North of England. The phrase was adopted in 2014 for a project ...
(otherwise known as High Speed 3) and the ongoing work of the
Northern Hub The Northern Hub was a rail upgrade programme between 2009 and 2020 in Northern England to improve and increase train services and reduce journey times between its major cities and towns, by electrifying lines and removing a major rail bottlene ...
to remove a railway bottleneck around Manchester and provide faster connections across the North of England. In June 2015, the government suspended electrification of the
Midland Main Line The Midland Main Line (MML), sometimes also spelt Midland Mainline, is a major Rail transport in Great Britain, railway line from London to Sheffield in Yorkshire via the East Midlands. It comprises the lines from London's St Pancras railway ...
from
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
to
Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...
, and the TransPennine route between
Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
and
Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...
amid spiraling costs and missed targets just weeks after winning the 2015 election. In December 2015, the Government awarded the two rail franchises in the North of England from April 2016 onwards, the
Northern Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating ...
and
TransPennine Express TransPennine Trains Limited, trading as TransPennine Express (TPE), is a British train operating company that has operated passenger services in the TransPennine Express franchise area since May 2023. It runs regional and inter-city rail ser ...
franchises. These franchises will come with £1.2 billion of investment in more than 500 brand-new carriages, 2,000 extra services a week, free wi-fi on trains and at stations. The outdated diesel powered Pacer trains will also be removed from the network in 2020. The co-management of the franchises will be undertaken by Transport for the North and Government from April 2018, transferring the functions from Rail North. In August 2016, it was reported that proposals for a road tunnel underneath the Pennines to cut journey times by 30 minutes between Manchester and Sheffield, were being advanced. If completed, it would be the world's longest road tunnel. In July 2017 Secretary of State for Transport
Chris Grayling Christopher Stephen Grayling, Baron Grayling, (born 1 April 1962), is a British politician and author who served as Secretary of State for Justice from 2012 to 2015, Leader of the House of Commons from 2015 to 2016 and Secretary of State for T ...
, said that it is unlikely that the railway line between Manchester and Leeds will be fully electrified. He also cast doubt on whether the planned two extra through platforms at
Manchester Piccadilly station Manchester Piccadilly is the main railway station of the city of Manchester, in the metropolitan county of Greater Manchester, England. Opened originally as Store Street in 1842, it was renamed Manchester London Road in 1847 and became Manchest ...
would be built. It was also announced that the electrification plan of the Midland Main Line was to be scrapped and InterCity Express Trains ordered would be changed to less efficient bi-mode trains with diesel engines added to run on non-electrified lines. In February 2017 research by the
Institute for Public Policy Research The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) is a Progressivism, progressive think tank based in London. It was founded in 1988 by Clive Hollick, Baron Hollick, Lord Hollick and John Eatwell, Baron Eatwell, Lord Eatwell, and is an independen ...
showed that actual or planned expenditure on transport infrastructure per head of population was £1,943 in London and £427 in the north of England.


Completed projects

In January 2016, the new southern entrance to Leeds station opened, allowing commuters travelling south to reduce their journey times from the station, as well as a new concourse and cycle storage. In December 2017, the
Ordsall Chord Ordsall Chord, also known as the Castlefield Curve, is a short railway line in Ordsall, Greater Manchester, Ordsall, Salford, England, which links and to , designed to increase capacity and reduce journey times into and through Manchester. I ...
linking Manchester Piccadilly and
Manchester Victoria Manchester Victoria station in Manchester, England, is a combined mainline railway station and Metrolink tram stop. Situated to the north of the city centre on Hunts Bank, close to Manchester Cathedral, it adjoins Manchester Arena which was c ...
opened.


Science and innovation

Projects include the
National Graphene Institute The National Graphene Institute is a research institute and building at the University of Manchester, England, that is focused on the research of graphene. Construction of the building to house the institute started in 2013 and finished in 2015. ...
,
Square Kilometre Array The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) is an intergovernmental organisation, intergovernmental international radio telescope project being built in Australia (low-frequency) and South Africa (mid-frequency). The combining infrastructure, the Square ...
and National Biologics Industrial Innovation Centre.


Arts

Manchester will get a new £110 million theatre named
The Factory The Factory was Andy Warhol's art studio in Manhattan, New York City, which had four locations between 1963 and 1987. The Factory became famous for its parties in the 1960s. It was the hip hangout spot for artists, musicians, celebrities, and ...
(named after
Factory Records Factory Records was a Manchester-based British independent record label founded in 1978 by Tony Wilson and Alan Erasmus. The label featured several important acts on its roster, including Joy Division, New Order (band), New Order, A Certain Ra ...
). In April 2016 the Government launched The Great Exhibition of the North, investing "£5 Million towards the exhibition with an additional £15 million into a legacy fund to attract further cultural investment in the Northern Powerhouse".


Technology

In March 2017, a delegation of 30 digital and technology leaders from the North of England visited San Francisco, home of tech companies including Facebook,
Apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...
and
Uber Uber Technologies, Inc. is an American multinational transportation company that provides Ridesharing company, ride-hailing services, courier services, food delivery, and freight transport. It is headquartered in San Francisco, California, a ...
, on a Northern Powerhouse trade mission. The trip was coordinated by MC2, a Northern Powerhouse partner, and the delegation was led by Professor Adam Beaumont, founder and CEO of telecoms operator aql. The flight marked the first ever direct service from the North to San Francisco and the only such route outside of London in the UK. The trip resulted in a new partnership between aql and CircleLoop, a smart online phone system provider. Links were also forged with incubation experts, including Rocketspace.


Northern Powerhouse Partnership

The Northern Powerhouse Partnership (NPP) was launched in September 2016 as the leading voice of business and civic leaders across the North. NPP is chaired by the former Chancellor George Osborne who backed the Northern Powerhouse as a concept and who coined the phrase itself in a keynote speech in June 2014. Its vice-chairs are Lord Jim O'Neill, one of the original architects of the Northern Powerhouse vision, and leading industrialist Professor Juergen Maier CBE, former CEO of Siemens UK. NPP is business-led and fosters collaboration between places and national government, working together on evidence-based objectives which can make the biggest impact to deliver sustainable growth and to improve quality of life. Its membership is made up of the North’s leading businesses, including Bruntwood, TalkTalk, Co-op, Mace, Arup, Arcadis, Barclays, HSBC, Drax, Virgin Money and Sellafield. The first Northern Powerhouse Partnership (NPP) report was released in January 2017. The report outlined a plan to grow the region's economy by £100bn and create 850,000 jobs. Since then, NPP has published a number of reports into its key priorities, including Educating the North and the 'HS2 and the economy of the North'. NPP has campaigned extensively for the full delivery of both HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail, securing a promise from Prime Minister Boris Johnson in February 2020 that "both are needed, and both will be built." It has also called for more powers to be devolved to Metro Mayors, including in skills, transport and health.


Northern Powerhouse Partner Programme

The Northern Powerhouse Partner Programme is a government initiative made up of businesses from across the North, from international organisations with a Northern presence to SMEs and from a variety of sectors. The aim of the programme is to showcase activity, from apprenticeship opportunities to clean growth initiatives, highlighting business success across the Northern Powerhouse.


Devolution

The first Metro Mayors were elected in 2017 as part of then-Chancellor George Osborne’s plan to decentralise power away from Whitehall through a series of devolution deals signed between 2014 and 2020. Metro Mayors oversee a number of local authority areas across a ‘combined authority’ (usually with a city at its core), creating a new tier of government between Westminster and local councils.


In popular culture

In February 2017 Goole band Sandra's Wedding released an album named ''Northern Powerhouse'', inspired by the policies and political implications of the project. It was discussed in the Press and praised by then Northern Powerhouse Minister
Andrew Percy Andrew Theakstone Percy (born 18 September 1977) is a British Conservative Party politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Brigg and Goole from 2010 to 2024. He was an active member of many groups in Parliament, including All ...
prior to his resignation from the post in June 2017. In August 2019 Northern Powerhouse Minister
Jake Berry Sir James Jacob Gilchrist Berry (born 29 December 1978) is a British Conservative Party former politician and former solicitor who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Rossendale and Darwen in Lancashire first elected at the 2010 gen ...
announced the Northern Powerhouse Partnership scheme exceeded 300 members.


Criticism

Professor Neil Lee of the London School of Economics commented that while he was "sympathetic to the basic idea", the Northern Powerhouse was "a vague and problematic concept". His assessment was that it had attracted new resources but was "geographically fuzzy with insufficient funding to achieve its unclear aims". In 2019, Andy Burnham, mayor of Greater Manchester, told the BBC the project was at risk of "fizzling out". The think tank IPPR North noted both positive and negative results for the Northern Powerhouse. IPPR pointed out a number of achievements: there were now five new "metro mayors" and a regional transport body - Transport for the North; employment had increased 7%, compared to the UK average of just over 6%; there were 34,520 more professional, scientific and technical jobs in 2019 compared with 2014 plus a further 54,523 jobs in manufacturing; there was "marginally" higher economic growth in the north than the national average (0.1% above the UK as a whole). However, there had also been negative changes: spending had risen by more than twice as much per person in London as in the north; late trains on northern franchises have more than doubled over the lifetime of the Northern Powerhouse; 200,000 more children were living in poverty; 150,000 more people were in jobs paying less than the living wage; and while there had been £3.6 billion in public spending cuts in the north, the south east and the south west had seen a £4.7 billion rise.
Chi Onwurah Dame Chinyelu Susan "Chi" Onwurah (; born 12 April 1965) is a British politician who has served as Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Newcastle upon Tyne Central and West (UK Parliament constituency), Newcastle ...
, the MP for
Newcastle Upon Tyne Central Newcastle upon Tyne Central was a constituency represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament from 2010 until its abolition for the 2024 general election by Chi Onwurah of the Labour Party. As with all constituencies since 1950, the ...
, noted that "without real investment, powers and accountability, he Northern Powerhousecan never be more than a marketing ploy with a little money attached". She said having elected Mayors (one of the achievements cited by the IPPR) did not improve democracy or create better outcomes, noting that it was not the structure of local government that mattered, but the effectiveness in changing lives. Roger Marsh, Chair of the NP11 Group of Northern Local Enterprise Partnerships said that the Northern Powerhouse needed a coherent strategy that set out a clear vision. He argued that the strategy needed to be designed and led by the North, and must be long-term. “To be truly successful, the Northern Powerhouse must be a thread running throughout Government policy, not an idea that waxes and wanes according to political circumstances,” he said.


See also

*
Cities and Local Government Devolution Act 2016 The Cities and Local Government Devolution Act 2016 (c. 1) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that allows for the introduction of directly elected mayors to combined authorities in England and Wales and the devolution of housing, ...
*
The Northern Way The Northern Way was a collaboration initiated in February 2004 between the three northern regional development agencies (RDAs), Northwest Development Agency, One NorthEast and Yorkshire Forward at the instigation of the then Deputy Prime Minis ...
*
Combined authorities and combined county authorities A combined authority (CA) is a type of local government institution introduced in England outside Greater London by the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009. CAs are created voluntarily and allow a group of local aut ...
*
Northern Hub The Northern Hub was a rail upgrade programme between 2009 and 2020 in Northern England to improve and increase train services and reduce journey times between its major cities and towns, by electrifying lines and removing a major rail bottlene ...
*
Northern Powerhouse Rail Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR), sometimes referred to unofficially as High Speed 3, is a proposed major rail programme designed to substantially enhance the economic potential of the North of England. The phrase was adopted in 2014 for a project ...
*
Local enterprise partnership In England, local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) were voluntary partnerships between local authorities and businesses, set up in 2011 by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills to help determine local economic priorities and lead ec ...
s *
Localism Act 2011 The Localism Act 2011 (c. 20) is an Act of Parliament that changes the powers of local government in England. The aim of the act is to facilitate the devolution of decision-making powers from central government control to individuals and commun ...
*
Devolution in the United Kingdom In the United Kingdom, devolution (historically called home rule) is the Parliament of the United Kingdom's statutory granting of a greater level of self-government to parts of the United Kingdom, such as to Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland ...
*
Europe 2020 Europe 2020 is a 10-year strategy proposed by the European Commission on 3 March 2010 for advancement of the economy of the European Union. It aims at a " smart, sustainable, inclusive growth" with greater coordination of national and European p ...
* The Great Exhibition of the North *
The Factory The Factory was Andy Warhol's art studio in Manhattan, New York City, which had four locations between 1963 and 1987. The Factory became famous for its parties in the 1960s. It was the hip hangout spot for artists, musicians, celebrities, and ...


References


External links

* {{official website, http://northernpowerhouse.gov.uk/, Northern Powerhouse – official site
Northern Powerhouse Partnership
– official site Economy of England Economy of Greater Manchester Northern England Politics of England Regionalism (politics) in the United Kingdom