Mayors join forces on investment
“IT’S great to see where my mortgage is going,” joked Liverpool City Region mayor Steve Rotheram, pictured below, as he looked up at the glass and steel of HSBC’S multimillion-pound UK headquarters in Birmingham city centre this week.
The Labour metro mayor was in unfamiliar territory speaking at a Tory party conference fringe event and, unusually, sharing a platform with his Conservative Tees Valley counterpart Ben Houchen.
But both of the mayors’ areas – and the North more widely – have a compelling story to tell about the opportunity for foreign firms to invest, whether it’s in the pioneering tidal energy schemes on Merseyside or Teesside’s huge industrial-scale carbon capture and storage facility.
And despite the many challenges the North faces, on the issue of foreign direct investment (FDI) the future is looking very positive. A report by the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, which hosted the event, shows that FDI in the North rocketed 72% in the last five years, despite dropping across the rest of the UK.
The report, “The Internationalisation of the Northern Powerhouse”, also found that the North increased its share of overall FDI into England, from 19% in 201216 to 33% in 2017-21. This rise means that the region – which makes up roughly 28% of England’s population – is now punching above its weight and drawing in more inward investment on a per capita basis.
Mr Houchen told how in his area the average wage is around £24,000 – below the national average of £38,000 – but investment from foreign firms meant jobs coming up with salaries of up to £70,000 a year.
“That fundamentally means more disposable income, more money in people’s pockets. It lifts communities that have been left behind for a long, long time.”
For his part, Mr Rotheram told how the tidal energy project in his region had been five years in development and was an opportunity for government to grasp a new technology in the way they failed to do with wind.
“We think now, especially with Putin’s bloody war, and energy prices rocketing that it can
now be something where it’s commercially viable and not just desirable for the reasons such as the problems that we’ve got with our carbon footprint, for instance.”
Also speaking at the event was Clare Hayward, who chairs the Cheshire and Warrington Local Enterprise Partnership. She made the case for investment across boundaries in the North and invited guests to estimate the scale of the opportunity in the region.
Describing the report, Jessica Bowles, strategy director at property firm Bruntwood, said: “These latest figures may come as a surprise to many, but not to those of us in the North who are witnessing first-hand the rapid pace of change and innovation here.
“The North is full of entrepreneurial people, fast-growing companies and revolutionary ideas, so it is exciting to see the global investment market respond to this and commit to the regions here.”