Leadership race comment – Bruntwood

Reactive comment – New PM

Jessica Bowles, Director of Strategy, Bruntwood

Liz Truss’s faces a daunting list of economic crises to tackle. Understandably, this was the focus of much of the debate during the leadership race. But too little was said about the UK’s long-term productivity problem.

“This urgently needs a new plan, and at its heart should be knowledge intensive sectors such as life sciences and tech and the role of places in supporting their growth. These are industries where the UK has impressive existing strengths to build on that are also thriving in the cities of the North, Midlands and Scotland.

“Critical to unlocking their potential is fast, reliable, modern transport: from cities to cities, and cities to surrounding towns – backed by investment into promising firms and ideas, and a plan to upskill our communities.

“On top of these, we need to continue to devolve power away from the centre. This is not just giving more levers to our metro mayors, but bringing government closer to our regions. Even after a successive focus on regional rebalancing over the past 12 years – first by supporting initiatives like the Northern Powerhouse and Midlands Engine and more latterly through Levelling Up – the number of civil service jobs has grown in London but declined elsewhere.”