John Healey unveils £150m fund for northern firms in push for growth — Get our award-winning daily news email featuring exclusive stories, opinion and expert analysis
I would like to be emailed about offers, event and updates from Evening Standard. Read our privacy notice.
The Chancellor will unveil a £150 million fund for fast-growing northern firms as he sets out plans to grow the economy through an “active” state.
John Healey will seek to tell an “optimistic story” about Britain in a major speech on Monday, echoing Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s push to strike a more upbeat note than his predecessor.
But it comes against a challenging economic backdrop ahead of Mr Healey’s first Budget on October 28, with a leap in Government borrowing costs amid concerns about the inflationary impact of the Iran war threatening his fiscal headroom.
Mr Healey will detail plans to spread growth more widely across the UK by using public investment to attract private capital.
The British Business Bank will commit up to £150 million to a new fund “to get behind the most innovative and fast-growing firms”, the Chancellor will say.
“This is not sentimentality, it’s supply side economics.”
The pot, using money already allocated to the Government-owned bank, will offer investments of between £5 million and £15 million to help university spin-outs and other innovative companies across the North of England expand.
The Treasury hopes the fund will draw in additional private cash, as part of Mr Healey’s vision of an “active state” working with private businesses to create opportunity.
Mr Healey will also task the British Business Bank and National Wealth Fund with doing more to support investment and innovation across the UK.
As part of this, the National Wealth Fund has agreed strategic partnerships with mayoral authorities in South Yorkshire, Liverpool City Region and the North East, as well as Cardiff Capital Region.
This will give local leaders direct access to the fund’s investment expertise to help develop infrastructure projects, the Treasury said.
Speaking at a manufacturing site, the Chancellor is expected to say: “The Prime Minister laid out a clear diagnosis of what has gone wrong in the past. The solution is a fundamental shift that starts with putting power in the right places.
Growth cannot be reserved for London warns Chancellor ahead of major speech