Thank you everyone, it’s an absolute pleasure to be here at the Convention of the North again.
I apologise if I go too Northern for you, but it’s good to be back in this region, and it is great to be here in Preston.
A year ago, I was stood in front of this same Convention at Leeds Dock – talking about the change this country so desperately needs. A lot has changed!
But just like last year, we’re meeting today on the spot of real Northern success.
For two centuries, this university has opened its doors. Not just for students across the country, but for the people of the proud city too.
Over those last two centuries, this mill town – just like the rest of the North – has seen entire industries rise and fall.
Today, as I look out towards our fantastic Northern leaders, businesses and innovators, I want you to know that I am determined to fight for a future that’s brighter and more ambitious.
Just over 6 months ago, this government was elected to deliver change. I know that the North is as impatient as anyone for that change – as I am too.
The gears of change haven’t always been well-oiled, in fact, a decade of decline has seen them rusted. As you work to improve the places you call home, you’re being resisted by a system that hoards power and investment away from where it needs to be – making regional inequalities worse, and not better.
The truth is that for all the promises of levelling up, central government’s first instinct is too often to hoard power and hold our economy back. Too many decisions affecting too many people are made by too few. I’m here to help you break that system, and build a fairer one in its place.
Last year I promised this Convention that I would be a Deputy Prime Minister for the North. And working with many of you sat here today, I’m proud of what we’ve achieved so far.
We’ve taken a hammer to business-as-usual in Whitehall, and within days of getting into government, Labour Secretaries of State were giving up newly won powers for the sake of our towns and cities, with the Prime Minister leading the charge. It has not been comfortable! But it wasn’t supposed to be. After all, we are undergoing a generational power shift from Whitehall to the town hall.
We’re putting support for business at the heart of this with funding rolled into integrated settlements. An Office for Investment working with mayors to develop funding opportunities and regional innovation funding.
In just six short months we are on track to complete devolution in the North. This means decisions for the North, will be made by the North. So that Northerners will no longer be dictated to from Whitehall. And this change will be irreversible. And that’s important, because I know first-hand that decisions are made best by those with skin in the game.
That’s what our English Devolution White Paper is all about. Nothing less than a total rewiring of power in England. For all the techy talk of devolution, the goal is simple: We will give mayors the power to drive growth, to use new levers over planning, housing and regeneration to Get Britain Building.
We are ending the begging bowl culture and giving local leaders flexibility over their spending. For the first time in British history, we have created a department-style integrated settlement giving Mayor Parker and Mayor Burnham over a billion pounds in flexible funding.
And next year, I am delighted that Liverpool, the North East, and South and West Yorkshire will all follow. This will be a game-changer for families across England, giving mayors the freedom and flexibility to make the right decisions for their place.
And you only need to look at what our Northern mayors are already achieving, to see why this is so important. Just look at Mayor Brabin’s SME Graduate Scheme, keeping homegrown talent in West Yorkshire, and her investment in bus routes getting people to work quicker and cheaper.
Or Mayor Coppard’s Pathways to Work Commission, putting 10,000 residents in South Yorkshire back to work. In York and North Yorkshire, Mayor Skaith is investing millions in high streets, supporting local business to thrive. Mayor Rotherham is bringing award-winning TV and film productions to Liverpool, with investment in new studios.
The success of our Northern mayors doesn’t stop there. In Greater Manchester, Mayor Burnham’s Bee Network is making it simpler and more affordable to get the bus and tram. And further north, Mayor McGuinness has set up the first mayoral child support poverty reduction unit to support families across the North East.
A future for the North, built by those that call it home. Uniting under the banner of Great North and a vision for a new era of Northern cooperation. This isn’t about pitting place against place. This is about understanding what our towns and cities can achieve together. It’s about releasing Britain’s untapped potential.
And don’t underestimate the effect of Cabinet Ministers having mayors at the end of the phone. Let me tell you – not one of them will shy away from telling us how it is.
It isn’t by accident that devolution sits in my department. It is by design. Because mayors aren’t just a helpful tool to unlock housing, transport and infrastructure, they are a critical levers in our mission of growth.
Let me tell you why. All of you in this room are trying – like I am – to get Britain building again. Yes, building houses, but also building your business, building renewable energy, building data centres.
All too often, we are met by a system that says: “don’t bother”. Well, I am determined to break that system. And I am handing mayors the sledgehammer!
Earlier this year we published a new national planning framework to break down the barriers to sustainable growth. And today, I want to share more details on how we will go even further, in our Planning and Infrastructure Bill.
Mayors are at the centre of our plans to build 1.5 million homes, by giving them the powers they need, mayors are an army to take on the blockers. We are backing them to work across huge regional geographies to get the job done. It’s why we’re giving them the powers to call in applications on those large, strategic sites that will really turn the wheel on growth.
And it’s why we’re putting grant funding for regeneration and housing in their hands. To enable mayors to deliver on their plans, we will forge a stronger partnership between them and Homes England. Over time, we will move Homes England to a more regionalised model so that the agency is even more responsive to the economic plan of an area.
We’ve already committed to strategic authorities for the entire country – but we can’t waste any time in building the homes we desperately need. That’s why I can confirm that the Planning and Infrastructure Bill I will introduce to Parliament in the weeks ahead will allow councils without a mayor to come together and set spatial development strategies.
This means bringing forward housebuilding powers as soon as we can. I think there is huge potential here. If we can get building, and boost productivity of just 11 city regions, we could add £20.5 billion each year to the Exchequer. Imagine the jobs, opportunities and growth that comes with it.
But devolving powers is only half the plan, if we’re not matching it with investment, we won’t see the results. The history of our Northern towns and cities is one of great industrialists, and workers who grafted for something better. And it’s in that same image, that the North today can provide the growth this country needs.
Here in Preston, people have decent jobs to be proud of – just look at the Eurofighter Typhoon programme. We cannot underestimate the impact that business investment like that can have on an area. This is a sector that is critical for our national security, and economic growth.
Over in West Yorkshire, we’re backing the new Mass Transit Scheme with two hundred million pounds of funding to support its development. Anyone who expects the businesses of Leeds to meet their economic potential without a proper transport network needs to ask themselves why they expect the North to settle for less.
And as we support the recreation of Doncaster-Sheffield Airport it’s the job of this government to ask how we can best support our nation’s regional airports. Teesside has shown that regional airports can prosper, and now it’s time to back South Yorkshire too.
Up in Blyth, plans are also being delivered for Europe’s biggest AI data centre. These projects are not just about driving growth for the sake of it but driving growth in the places where potential is greatest. The places which once built Britain, and once again deserve to be the centres of economic and industrial excellence.
[political content removed] I share the Chancellor’s determination to review the Green Book to properly recognise the potential of places across the country. This means a full review of what it means for a project to be value for money.
Alongside this, our industrial strategy led by the Business Secretary, will see a complete rewiring of the state. The mayors’ local growth plans are the bedrock of our industrial strategy, underpinning how we drive growth in every town and city. And finally, harness the great potential of the North.
These plans are already underway. Every mayor is working with government to align priorities. Time is of the essence, which is why we’re wasting no time in publishing local growth plans, setting out these blueprints to deliver the manufacturing and green jobs of the future.
That’s only part of our efforts to rebalance the economy. My Department and the Treasury are working with all strategic mayors with expert units laser-focused on unlocking devolution opportunities in skills, transport, and business support.
And as we kickstart growth, it is only right that the workers who fuel the economy, get back what they put in. This government’s Employment Rights Bill means the biggest upgrade to rights at work in a generation. A bill that takes the very best standards from the very best businesses – and extends it to millions more workers.
We are clear – better living standards is our number one mission. And we will succeed in our mission when working people can contribute to growth and benefit fairly from it. In some of the most deprived parts of the country – in places across the North – this legislation could save workers up to £600 in lost income.
Giving people a stable income, a chance to get a mortgage, putting more money in people’s pockets which in turn can be spent on the high streets and in local businesses. Boosting town centres and local economies with regenerative effects – this is about building a new route to prosperity from the bottom up, and the middle out, not the top down.
Managers and senior decision-makers agree that this bill will boost productivity. Which is good for workers, and good for business. We all know that treating workers decently is just what good businesses already do. We are backing business to level the playing field so that good employers aren’t undercut. Encouraging businesses to compete on quality and innovation in a race to the top.
Without our bill, more working days will be lost through ill-health, costing businesses money. Inaction isn’t an option. Businesses have everything to gain from this bill but I recognise it will be a big change which is why where businesses have raised concerns we have listened. It’s why we introduced a statutory probation period.
We want businesses to be able to hire with confidence whilst still extending new protections for workers. These are plans which are pro-business, as well as pro-worker, which is why I am hell bent on making work pay.
And just as we’ll leave no worker behind, we’ll also be fighting for every single town, village and estate. Too many neighbourhoods have been underestimated and overlooked for too long.
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When I first stepped into government, we inherited a burnt-out shell that they called levelling up. It promised to rebalance the North and South. But when I got into government, the truth is, the money didn’t exist. There was this warped idea that all places needed was a lick of paint and a chess board in the park.
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We’re doing away with the sticking plaster policies of old and working towards national renewal. To achieve that, we need to start empowering people to drive change in their communities. And to anyone who doubts this ambition, to anyone who doubts the North, I say that our region has been underestimated and overlooked for far too long.
This government is only giving the North what it’s owed, and what it deserves. For too long, our outdated system of council funding has been stacked against the north. The days of Ministers expecting the North to go cap in hand ends now. That’s why with Jim McMahon, our Minister for English Devolution and Local Government, we are making simpler and clearer structures and will fix the foundations of local government. He is already beginning to replace the funding formula to give the North nearly £840 million more this year. That brings the North’s total increase to just over 8 per cent – the biggest rise of all regions in England, by a good distance.
If this new formula had been applied under the last government, the North would’ve seen billions more in funding. Instead, councils saw cuts of 23 per cent. So we’re starting to right that wrong.
And we realise that every council has different needs. That’s why we’ve set aside a cash-terms increase for local government of 6.8 per cent. That’s over £69 billion for local government. All councils are facing pressures, but it’s particularly hard for those that bore the brunt of austerity. And this year’s settlement marks a clear direction of travel for the rest of the Parliament.
But I know that the change this country needs can’t be micromanaged from Whitehall. It’s people in this room today – mayors, councillors, business owners and investors – who will drive us forward. And as that happens, I can promise that the full force of the government will be behind you.
Transferring power out of Westminster, getting Britain building, letting our towns and cities fire on all cylinders, doing whatever it takes to kickstart economic growth and leaving no one behind in that government-defining mission.
Thank you.