Good growth in every postcode depends on the real economy working for businesses - Shanika Amarasekara
Britain has spent years searching for the silver bullet that will finally unlock growth in the North. Perhaps we have been looking at the problem from the wrong end. In Hull, more than 100 organisations have invested in rooftop solar through finance provided by Paragon Bank, saving an average of more than £20,000 a year on their energy bills.
It is a small example, but it captures something important. Growth does not come from a single policy lever pulled in Whitehall. It happens when businesses are empowered to invest in what I call the real economy.
The North does not need another isolated answer to its growth problem. It needs a policy environment that is calibrated towards helping businesses invest, expand and compete, backed by the infrastructure and access to finance that make those decisions possible.
The Government cannot deliver that alone, and neither can industry. But if both are willing to work together, there is an opportunity to turn more of the North's existing economic strength into higher productivity and stronger growth.
That is the perspective I see every day from the members of the Finance & Leasing Association, who will work with this Government to deliver good growth in every postcode.
Much of what our members finance is the practical investment businesses make every day through machinery, vehicles, equipment and software. Crucially, these are the assets businesses use to become more productive.
For an SME, the issue is often not whether it wants to invest, but whether it can afford to do so now without exhausting the cash it also needs for wages, recruitment, marketing or expansion.
Finance changes that calculation. By spreading the cost of productive assets, businesses can bring investment forward while preserving working capital.
This matters everywhere, but it is particularly significant in Northern England. In 2025, new finance provided by FLA members was estimated to be 8.2 per cent of regional GVA in the North East, 7.7 per cent in Yorkshire and the Humber and 6.6 per cent in the North West. The equivalent UK figure was 6 per cent.
That does not mean more finance alone will solve the North's growth and productivity challenges, however, it does show how intimately investment and access to finance are linked across Northern economies.
One FLA member headquartered in Macclesfield, operating extensively between the North West and London, identifies transport reliability as its single greatest operational challenge. Cancellations, delays and unreliable connectivity cost productive working time and make it harder to meet customers.
Outside Greater Manchester, inconsistent local public transport creates further problems for staff and customers. A business can finance better equipment on Monday. It still must contend with the railways on Tuesday.
That is why transport policy, financial policy and regional growth policy cannot be treated as separate conversations.
Greater Manchester's Bee Network is a useful example of what can happen when local leaders are given the ability to reshape part of that system.
This is where the Government's renewed focus on the North, including No.10 North, is valuable. It creates an opportunity to think less in silos and more about how the system works as a whole.
Shanika Amarasekara is CEO of Finance & Leasing Association.