Chancellors Growth speech a missed opportunity for the North West, says Clarke Willmott

3rd February 2025, 3:22 pm

London and the South East “continue to dominate the UK government’s growth agenda” at the expense of the North West and other regions, according to a leading business figure.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves made a major speech last week spelling out her backing for a series of infrastructure projects, promising to go “further and faster” than previous governments, after years of sluggish growth in the UK.

One of the schemes set to benefit is the £4.2 billion redevelopment of Manchester United’s Old Trafford home.

The club is due to make a decision by the summer on whether to redevelop the existing stadium into an 87,000-capacity venue or build a new 100,000-capacity ground. The scheme is expected to use public money to move three rail freight terminals blocking the redevelopment.

Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, has promised the scheme will also entail building 5,000 homes and will create a second major “football campus” in the city.

Meanwhile the Chancellor confirmed that a new partnership between Prologis and Manchester Airport Group will create a new advanced manufacturing and logistics park, resulting in £1 billion of investment and 2,000 jobs.

However Ed Foulkes, head of the Manchester office of national law firm Clarke Willmott LLP, called the Chancellor’s speech “a missed opportunity” and highlighted the other principal projects included in the speech as evidence that Whitehall continues to prioritise London and the South East as the prime engine of UK economic growth.

These include:

The building of a third runway at Heathrow Airport, which has been held up by legal challenges since June 2018 and which the Chancellor says could create 100,000 jobs

The creation of “Europe’s Silicon Valley” between Oxford and Cambridge, with funding confirmed for new road and rail projects, homes and schools, an innovation hub in Cambridge and two new reservoirs

The £9 billion Lower Thames Crossing, the UK’s largest road tunnel, linking Tilbury in Essex to Gravesend in Kent

“One thing is crystal clear from the Chancellor’s big speech last week – that London and the South East continue to dominate the UK government’s growth agenda,” says Ed Foulkes.

“Of course the Government’s backing for the Old Trafford project is a major boost to the city region and as Andy Burnham has said, it will cement Manchester’s reputation as the world’s football capital.

“Together with the new residential, retail, leisure and business premises, the stadium is forecast to deliver an extra £7.3 billion GVA to the economy, and more than 90,000 employment opportunities.

“Nonetheless, while projects such as the third runway at Heathrow, the investment in the Oxford-Cambridge axis and the Lower Thames Crossing will boost UK plc as a whole, they are located in what is already the country’s wealthiest region.

“The Government’s failure to put greater focus on other regions like the North West – which has the highest population outside London and the South East – sends the wrong signal. I’m sure other business owners and investors in our region will share my view that this a missed opportunity.”

Clarke Willmott is a national law firm with offices in Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, London, Manchester, Southampton, and Taunton.

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