From rhetoric to reality. Is the North going to deliver in an age of uncertainty?

This week, the government has given yet another resounding vote of confidence in the north of England. In the next phase of their Northern Growth Strategy, they have placed their faith firmly in Greater Manchester, South Yorkshire and West Yorkshire, and more specifically their elected mayors, to deliver economic growth and prosperity, not only for the inhabitants of these sprawling city regions but for the country as a whole.

In her Mais Lecture on Tuesday, Chancellor Rachel Reeves listed regional growth, alongside AI and closer links with the EU, as one of the three greatest opportunities for economic growth in Britain. Most notably, she explicitly tied the importance of the prosperity of the North to Britain’s response to ‘an age of global uncertainty’. The political intent may be unambiguous, but will this approach deliver?

At first glance, many may think there doesn't seem to be anything new here. After all, we have become accustomed to strings of positive proclamations and political rhetoric focused on the northern growth story for the last decade or more – see ‘Northern Powerhouse’ and ‘Levelling-up’. Where this announcement differs is its focus on tangible outcomes and on industrial strengths rather than broader regeneration initiatives. The £1.7bn investment announced on Tuesday is set to fund specific projects across the north of England where capabilities already exist and, importantly, to empower city mayors in their delivery.

When you take the example of my home city region of Greater Manchester, an undoubted success story that has clearly bucked the national trend in its economic growth story of recent years, it is no surprise that the government is looking to the North to rescue the UK from its economic quagmire. Whether it be a multi-million tech campus in Manchester, a quantum and cryogenics facility in Cheshire, or accelerating defence manufacturing in South Yorkshire, the North is being placed firmly at the helm of Britain’s economic future like never before.

To move beyond the rhetoric, it is now more important than ever that the government and its city region mayors match their tangible delivery programmes with the publication of equally tangible outcomes. Despite the progress of recent years, people in the North feel left behind and want to benefit from higher paying jobs, better transport connectivity to these jobs, better standards of living and more affordable housing in reach of their places of work. For the country we need to see these programmes deliver private investment and for successful supply chain businesses to establish around the new developments, something economists would refer to as the multiplier effect.

The chancellor has put much weight on the elected mayors to deliver regional growth, and rightly so given they are the ones who know their areas best and have a proven track record of success. In its list of devolution priorities, the government needs to empower the mayors to speed up planning decisions on these important projects and to unblock planning logjams so these projects can be delivered at speed with tangible results. If this is achieved, the results will not just be a success for the North, but for the whole country.

And what does success look like? If, five years from now, the North has visibly more prosperous urban centres (as well as suburbs), with higher‑paying jobs in globally traded sectors, and a supply chain of businesses anchored to these projects, then this week will be remembered as the one when rhetoric really did give way to reality.