Next PM ‘must deliver on Northern Powerhouse’

26 February 2019 ...... Henri Murison, director at the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, speaking at The Great Northern Conference 2019 at New Dock, Royal Armouries in Leeds. Picture Tony Johnson.

Closing the Great Northern Conference. Henri Murison told delegates that the North needs to come together, not just when there is a crisis but “day in and day out” to enhance the region.

In a rousing speech, Mr Murison said the key to this was improved skill levels.

“The Northern Powerhouse is about more than trains,” he said.

“The biggest barrier to productivity is education.

“We need to change the way we educate some of young people who come from the most disadvantaged background and who disproportionately come from the North of England.

“We are calling clearly for schools to be funded better, to recognise that white working class boys are doing so badly and being locked out of the labour market.

“This is national crisis yet the Government is not giving them the support or using the learning of some of our most successful schools.

“We need a country that works for every one, as the Prime Minister said, what seems so very long ago.”