海角视频

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Economic Development

Government needs to do more on inward investment to the North, MPs say

A cross party parliamentary group has criticised the Department for Business & Trade's current approach to securing investors

The Public Accounts Committee says the Government is not doing enough to encourage foreign inward investment outside of London(Image: Guide Dogs)

The Government must do more to entice foreign investors into the North amid "baked in" economic bias towards London, a new report says.

The report launched today by the Commons Public Accounts Committee criticises work by the Department for Business & Trade to attract high value foreign investments, saying its focus is too weighted towards the capital. The cross party group of MPs say that in 2021/22, 39% of projects supported by DBT were in London and the South East and 16,000 of the jobs forecast to be created by those projects were in London – more than across the North East, North West, Scotland, Yorkshire and Humber combined.

The Government has been accused of "flying blind" as the committee said there is a lack of understanding about its impact on investment levels and too much focus on short-term deals without follow-up to see whether projects developed what was initially promised. And the report also said a new Department target that emphasises supporting investments that lead to more than 35,000 new jobs outside of London and the South East does not differentiate between 海角视频 nations and regions.

Read more: Barclays to relocate to Bank House in Newcastle city centre

In response, seven recommendations are set out which include closer working with the Department for Levelling Up to target areas that could most benefit from investment; encouraging civil servants overseas to better promote the whole 海角视频 and reviewing deals supported in the last five years to learn more about impacts.

Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, deputy chair of the Public Accounts Committee, said: "Our report is more confirmation that economic bias towards London and the South East remains baked into the system. DBT cannot continue to fly blind on how its work impacts and supports investment. Such projects have the potential to transform entire communities with much-needed jobs and growth.

"Government must learn lessons at pace on how it is best placed to help make the 海角视频 an attractive destination for inward investment in a competitive field. It is welcome news that Government targets are to be set to support investment outside London and the South East. But greater precision and leadership are needed from Government to guide projects into areas of the 海角视频 as a whole, where there is potential for them to have the most impact."

In the North East, there have recently been sector-specific calls for other levers to attract inward investment. In the automotive supply chain, one of the region's most significant centres of employment, the Government has been urged to "level the playing field" with international competition. It comes in the wake of the US Government's massive $360bn Inflation Reduction Act which offers attractive subsidies and tax incentives to firms in the electric vehicle manufacturing space and other energy transition-linked industries. The EU's Green Deal Industrial Plan, has also tried to entice clean tech companies by relaxing state aid rules.