The role of The Great North in delivering pan-northern investment

The UK’s economic success relies on northern growth. The Great North represents an economy of 16 million people and an economy larger than many European countries. Closing half of its productivity gap between the North with the rest of the UK could boost national output by around £30 billion per year.

The success of the North is to the benefit of people living in the North and the rest of the country. The North can be a new economic engine of the country. 

The Great North is a new mayoral-led partnership that brings together combined authorities, local councils, business, universities and government (partners). It covers the North West, Yorkshire and the Humber and the North East. The partnership is looking to define what type of pan-northern collaboration will best serve their shared objectives to “to elevate the voice, visibility and economic impact of the North”.

This short briefing paper is to advise the new Great North partnership on how they could help to bring more public and private investment to the North.