Business must play a key role in helping Andy Burnham lower the cost of growth: Olga Watterich
Growth has become the defining challenge for the UK economy. Raising living standards, attracting investment and creating opportunity in Yorkshire and the Humber – and across the nation – needs more than ambition alone, it will require a genuine partnership between government and business to lower the cost of growth.
That’s why all eyes were on Manchester and Andy Burnham’s speech on the economy. As the only candidate to officially declare for the Labour leadership, businesses were keen for a glimpse into the future, and a possible Burnham premiership. Overall, the speech hit many of the right notes.
In many ways, Greater Manchester’s success is testament to what can be achieved when local leaders are given the freedom to do just that: lead. By bringing business, local government and communities together around a shared vision, Burnham’s team delivered real progress, including better connected transport, investment in housing, stronger skills provision and regeneration – as well as an enviable rate of economic growth.
The question for our presumptive future Prime Minister is how to replicate that success on a national scale?
The answer starts with recognising that businesses are not just beneficiaries of growth, they are the engine that drives it. And that tackling the cost-of-living can’t happen without first tackling the cost of doing business.
Every investment decision, every new apprenticeship, every innovation and export opportunity depends on businesses having the confidence to plan for the long-term amidst continuing global volatility.
That confidence comes from certainty. It comes from an economy equipped with a modern industrial strategy, attracting international trade with a competitive edge on the world market. And it comes from government working with business from the outset, collaborating to deliver end-to-end, at pace.
There is no shortage of opportunities. Burnham rightly calls on the levers of devolution to unlock regional growth, giving metro mayors powers and flexibility in Yorkshire and the Humber and beyond to shape their own futures. When focused on the right areas devolution can be gamechanger, for example on planning reform, infrastructure and housing – forging the foundations for higher productivity and raised living standards.
Nurturing talent must also be central to Burnham’s growth agenda. Businesses are ready to create more pathways into work for young people and help build a culture of lifelong learning, ensuring workers can thrive as technology reshapes our economy.
At the same time, trusted adoption of AI and greater support for innovation can help businesses become more productive while creating the high-quality jobs of the future.
But there are clear differences between leading at a regional and leading at a national level. Not least the challenge of how to fund growth initiatives without significantly increasing borrowing or taxation. With fiscal headroom at a premium, attracting private capital investment must be a key part of Burnham’s platform to boost growth, both locally and nationwide.
The business community in Yorkshire and the Humber – and across the UK – is ready to play its part in driving that growth and turning ambition into tangible delivery that shapes the lives of people across the country. If Burnham’s ‘Manchesterism’ has shown us anything, it’s that growth doesn’t ‘just happen’ – it is created. And it’s best achieved when government provides business with the confidence and competitive environment it needs to deliver.
Olga Watterich is CBI deputy regional director for Yorkshire and Humber