Seizing Opportunities in the North of England

Image generated by Bing Image Creator by Designer.

High Speed Rail 2 (HS2) was supposed to connect the North of England with London, the metropolitan centre of British cultural, political, and economic life. This project was brought to an early and unfinished end late last year.

The North of England is brimming with opportunity and skill that largely remains untapped. Young people searching for opportunities, investors, and legislators alike must look to the North to find Britain’s undiscovered potential.

Though the cancellation of HS2 was not what many of us in the North wanted, the end of this troublesome project reminds us of the many other exciting opportunities in the region. In this article, we explore the exciting possibilities that the future holds for the North after HS2.

The Alternative to HS2

The original plan for HS2 would have seen a high speed rail network connect London to Leeds and Manchester via Birmingham. The Birmingham to Leeds line, the so called Eastern leg, was scrapped in 2021. Last October the government cancelled the Northern stretch of HS2 due to ballooning costs and lengthening delays in construction. It is notable that the Labour Party has said that it cannot promise HS2 to Manchester, turning down the opportunity to turn HS2 into an election issue.

There are currently 350 active building sites for the project which support 30,000 jobs and 3,200 UK businesses. The Colne Valley Viaduct, which will become the UK’s longest railway bridge when complete, is over halfway complete. HS2 construction will continue up to Birmingham. It is estimated that trains will begin to run on the London to Birmingham HS2 line from 2029. Although HS2 itself will not cover the entire route between London and Manchester, the new infrastructure between Birmingham and the capital will cut journey times to Manchester by 27 minutes to 1hr 40 minutes.

The government has said it will use the funds saved from cancelling the Northern leg of HS2 to improve transport in the North of England in other ways. The government has promised a package of investments in travel infrastructure across the North worth £19.8bn. This will include a new train station in Bradford, a ‘mass transit network’ in West Yorkshire, and £6.5bn to be spent across the North’s towns and cities. A similar packages will be delivered the Midlands (worth £9.6bn) and the rest of the country (£6.5bn).

It is disappointing that HS2, among the world’s most expensive rail projects, will not reach the North of England. The potential for commuters to travel between the North and London would have strengthened the bond between the North and the capital, with people across social classes better able to live, spend their money, and exchange their ideas between these regions. The impracticalities of HS2 have prevented the Northern sections from coming into existence in the near future. Nevertheless, in the post-HS2 North, there is plenty of opportunity going forward.

Developments in the North

In 2004 the North East voted 78% against the Labour government’s plan to create a parliament for the region.[1] This would have created an elected assembly on the model of the Scottish Parliament. While the most notable examples of devolution are in Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and London, greater decentralisation in England has been a policy of both the Conservative and Labour parties for many years. Significant devolution deals have been passed by the New Labour, coalition, and Conservative governments from the early 2000s.[2]

Devolution in the North is expanding this year. A number of councils in the North East recently signed the North East Mayoral Combined Authority Deeper Devolution Deal. This new deal will create a single Mayoral Combined Authority in the North East region, with an elected mayor to make decisions across Northumberland, Tyneside, Newcastle, Sunderland, and Country Durham. Tees Valley, neighbouring this combined area, has not been included in the deal. This combined North East Mayor will be elected for the first time this May (2024).

While economic data might show that the North of England is struggling, it is clear that there is plenty of opportunity to develop and harness.

The North West of England is by the far the biggest recipient of Levelling Up funding, receiving over £200m more than the second largest recipient. In terms of raw cash the North East is third from bottom when it comes to Levelling Up money, but it is second in terms of spending per head at a little over £100 per person. The North West is the third largest recipient per head at just under £100 per person.

Both political parties have made recent ‘levelling up’ promises. Keir Starmer vaguely pledged to ‘get the North East building again’ in a speech to the North East Chamber of Commerce last November. The Conservatives promise to deliver £20m each to 55 towns across the UK over a 10-year period lacks specificity, but presumably some of this investment would be delivered in the North.

Northern Potential

As the new devolution deal for parts of the North East says, the ‘North East of England laid the foundations for Britain to become a global superpower.’ In the wake of the HS2 dream, the fact that the modern railway was born in the North East of England comes to mind. Stephenson’s Rocket, running on the Stockton & Darlington Railway, was one of the early landmark moments in the industrial revolution. But what are the opportunities across the North today?

Leeds and Manchester are two of the biggest financial hubs in the UK outside of London. Teesport, the Port of Liverpool, and Port of Tyneside are among largest ports in Britain. Teesport is the 5^th biggest port in the UK and one of the biggest in Western Europe, contributing £1.4bn per year to the UK economy. Durham, Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield, Liverpool, York, and Newcastle boast among the UK’s most prestigious universities, five of which rank in the top 20 universities in the UK. The North has produced some of the UK’s most iconic and well-known musicians and sports clubs and continues to do so to this day. While economic data might show that the North of England is struggling, it is clear that there is plenty of opportunity to develop and harness.

Understanding the North

Devolution deals of the kind recently penned in the North East are one potential route to making the most of such opportunities. But the North needs substantive support as well. The reason why much of the North has fallen behind other regions in the UK is because it was at the forefront of the industrial revolution. When industry ceased to turn a profit in the mid-twentieth century, it was rapidly closed down across the country. While a necessary move for the long-term health of the UK economy, the sudden void economic restructuring created has not been entirely filled.

For many years now the promise to ‘level up’ Britain, especially in the North, has elicited many promises, packages, and projects to help the parts of the UK that need support. They have had varying levels of success. What is clear is that the North of England is brimming with economic activity and opportunity. There may be advantages to moving decision making closer to the issues at hand, but trying to solve an economic vacuum by rearranging local government does not address the fundamental issue the North has faced since deindustrialisation.

What this country needs to acknowledge is the reality that there is a wealth of potential in the North of England. To harness this potential, the North must become home to the big economic, scientific, and technological frontiers of the 21^st century. Northern universities are well known for their excellence in STEM subjects, especially the University of Manchester, intellectual home of Allan Turing and Brian Cox. The fact that over 12,000 startups were founded in the North of England in 2022 proves that there is ingenuity and capacity for innovation in the region.

Taking Opportunities

In previous articles we have discussed the importance of cracking fusion energy and the future of artificial intelligence. If the UK is going to be a world leader in developing these technologies it will have to leverage the innovative talent of the whole country as well as that of the well-known centres of excellence in Oxford, Cambridge, and London. The North has potential in many sectors that is waiting to be harnessed. By incentivising the creation of startups and investment by established firms in the North, such potential can help us be world leading in the 21^st century’s most important industries.

Improving transport to, from, and within the North East is one way of doing so. Devolving certain powers to local forms of government is another. Using central powers to tax and spend to incentivise innovation alongside the efforts of local government is equally important. Central recognition of the North’s opportunities must accompany devolution. Standing, as we always are, at the precipice of the future, one can only conclude that there is immeasurable opportunity in the North of England. It is up to us to take it.

Edward Cross

[1] Bogdanor, ‘The People and the Constitution’, Appendix: The Referendum in Britain, point 9., p.253.

[2] Especially the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act 2009 and Cities and Local Government Devolution Act 2016.

Sources:

• ‘About Teesport’, Teesport, <https://www.teesport.co.uk/about/about-teesport/> [accessed: 24/03/2024].
• Bogdanor, Vernon, ‘The People and the Constitution’, in Peter Cane and H. Kumarasingham (eds), The Cambridge Constitutional History of the United Kingdom, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2023), pp.221-253.
• ‘Building HS2’, HS2, <https://www.hs2.org.uk/building-hs2/> [accessed: 24/03/2024].
• Conservative Party, ‘BREAKING: Long-term investment for your town’, <https://action.conservatives.com/yourpriorities/> [accessed: 24/03/2024].
• Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Jacob Young, ‘Historic Trailblazer Devolution deal for North East signed’, GOV.UK, (18 March 2024), <https://www.gov.uk/government/news/historic-trailblazer-devolution-deal-for-north-east-signed> [accessed: 24/03/2024].
• Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities; Durham County Council; Gateshead Council; Newcastle City Council; North Tyneside Council; Northumberland County Council; South Tyneside Council; and Sunderland City Council, North East Mayoral Combined Authority Deeper Devolution Deal, <https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/65e8341b08eef600115a5637/North_East_Deeper_Devolution_Deal.pdf > [accessed: 24/03/2024].
• Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica, ‘Stockton & Darlington Railway’, Britannica, <https://www.britannica.com/place/England/Traditional-regions> [accessed: 24/03/2024].
• Francis, Sam, ‘Labour can not primes HS2 to Manchester – Keir Starmer’, BBC News, (5 October 2023), <https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-67016873> [accessed: 24/03/2024].
• Hotten, Russell, ‘HS2 rail extension to Leeds scrapped amid promise to transform rail’, BBC News, (18 November 2021), <https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-59334043> [accessed: 24/03/2024].
• HS2 Ltd, ‘HS2 Project Update, January 2024’, (4 January 2024), <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vy0KY4aKEmU> [accessed: 24/03/2024].
• ‘HS2: What is the route and why is the Manchester link scrapped?’, BBC News, (6 October 2023), <https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16473296> [accessed: 24/03/2024].
• Neville, Matthew, ‘Over 12,000 startups established by North East entrepreneurs in 2022’, Bdaily News, <https://bdaily.co.uk/articles/2022/10/24/over-12000-startups-established-by-north-east-entrepreneurs-in-2022> [accessed: 24/03/2024].
• Prime Minister’s Office; Department for Transport; and Rishi Sunak, ‘PM Redirects HS2 funding to revolutionise transport across the North and Midlands’, GOV.UK, (4 October 2023), <https://www.gov.uk/government/news/pm-redirects-hs2-funding-to-revolutionise-transport-across-the-north-and-midlands> [accessed: 24/03/2024].
• Starmer, Keir, ‘Keir Starmer’s speech to the North East Chamber of Commerce’, Labour, (3 November 2023), <https://labour.org.uk/updates/press-releases/keir-starmers-speech-to-the-north-east-chamber-of-commerce/> [accessed: 24/03/2024].
• Visual Journalism Team, ‘HS2: What has been built so far?’, BBC News, (6 October 2023), <https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-67029579> [accessed: 24/03/2024].