Economy and Infrastructure

Five things you didn’t know about the Northern Powerhouse

It’s five years this week since George Osborne gave a speech calling for a ‘Northern Powerhouse’ and the project is fully underway.

It has evolved from a political buzzword to a main component of Britain’s public policy.

But what is the Northern Powerhouse? Here are five facts you might not know about the project:

It accounts for 16% of Britain’s jobs

Over 15 million people are part of the project and that means a lot of jobs. 35,000 more people are now in professional, scientific and professional jobs compared to 2014.

If it was a country, it would have the 10^th largest economy in the EU

Productivity has increased massively in the last five years and the Northern Powerhouse collectively is worth hundreds of billions.

The North exported £55bn in 2016 alone from over 25,000 companies.

£38m of Northern Powerhouse funding was lost on the Northern Rail crisis

All of this cost a significant amount of money; over £1.2m a day at its peak.

If it competed in the 2012 Olympics, it would have come 6^th

The London Olympics featured some fantastic names from the North including Alastair and Jonny Brownlee, Nicola Adams and Jason Kenny.

Over 220 organisations are part if it

Despite what some people think, the Northern Powerhouse is much larger than a government body. The project brings together 221 bodies in the public sector, business, construction and education – and we at PSE are partners too.

The project has come far in the past five years, but there is still much more to be done.