'˜What a joke': Nearly all Northern Powerhouse chiefs are based in London

Almost all of the senior civil servants employed by the Government department responsible for promoting the so-called northern powerhouse initiative are based in London.

By The Newsroom

Published 7th Mar 2016, 15:11 BST

Updated 7th Mar 2016, 15:51 BST

The Department for Communities and Local Government has confirmed that 97.6% of its senior civil servants are based in the nation’s capital.

The statistic was published following a written parliamentary question from the Labour MP Louise Haigh (Sheffield Heeley).

The aim of the northern powerhouse project is to promote economic prosperity in the north of England.

But the initiative has been criticised by some MPs.

Jenny Chapman, the Labour MP for Darlington, led a Westminster Hall debate on the impact of local government funding cuts on the North East earlier this month and she described the northern powerhouse as a “joke”.

Meanwhile, a response to another written question from Ms Haigh states that 91.8% of the department’s core policy civil servants are based in London.

Read The Yorkshire Post’s Tom Richmond on Why Northern Powerhouse doesn’t stand a chance