A Labour shadow minister will use a speech in Manchester to make the case for “deeper and broader” economic devolution to give communities across the North of England the tools to “lead in the growth industries”.
Pat McFadden will stress the need for “more local powers” over the economy in a speech to the Great Northern Conference at the University Academy 92 (UA92) campus in Stretford this afternoon (Wednesday November 23).
The Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury is standing in for Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves, who was due to speak but has been taken ill.
Other speakers listed for the event include Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham and Greater Manchester Transport Commissioner Vernon Everitt.
Conservative Transport Secretary Mark Harper is listed to speak but can no longer attend in person because there's a vote in the Commons. He is understood to be speaking via a prerecorded video address.
Mr McFadden is expected to say: “We have been far too timid about economic devolution.
“So, in the next Labour government, (shadow communities secretary) Lisa Nandy and I will ensure that economic devolution is both deeper and broader.
“This will give communities more control over their future and enable them to contribute more to our country’s economic growth.”
The Labour MP will say that the next Labour government will “offer a prospectus for real levelling up – an agenda for a greener, fairer Britain in which towns and cities across the North of England play their part”.
This will be informed by the blueprint for the future of the UK being drawn up by former prime minister Gordon Brown and the contribution of regional and local leaders.
Mr McFadden will say that Whitehall must give towns and cities across Britain the tools to “lead in the growth industries” and “create the environment in which those businesses can thrive”.
He will also tout Labour’s Green Prosperity Plan, saying: “Many of the most deprived communities and regions in the UK are also those most exposed to the effects of climate change.
“But many of these same regions are ideally placed to lead in renewable energies and the new industries that will power our climate transition. The communities which powered Britain’s first industrial revolution can power the next.
“That is why the North of England is so central to Labour’s Green Prosperity Plan: Electric battery factories in the North East and the North West.
"Clean steel with jobs in Rotherham, Sheffield and Scunthorpe. And carbon capture and storage in Humberside, in Teesside, and in Merseyside. Good, secure work. Opportunity shared widely. And industries in which communities can take pride.”
Today's event, which "will continue the debate on how best to grow the economy and build a greener, fairer, equal future for the North", is being organised by the Northern Powerhouse Partnership.
Prior to Rachel Reeves calling off her visit, Chief Executive Henri Murison said: “The Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves will be committing to a bold agenda for the North of England which matches the level of ambition from the business leaders who will be coming together at the Great Northern Conference.
“On devolution and the need to power the climate transition her agenda is one which will leverage private investment.
"The forthcoming review by Gordon Brown will address the important questions of how we redistribute political power in order to address the concentration of growth, wealth and opportunity in only some parts of our country as the Shadow Chancellor is right to be calling out.”
