Northern Powerhouse at 10: What has changed since 2014?

Five years ago, it was Levelling Up that Boris Johnson leant on to help him win over parts of the North East who had never voted Tory before.

Now, with a General Election just 10 days away, have either of those visions been delivered?

On June 23 2014, then-Chancellor George Osborne pledged to build a “Northern Powerhouse”. His view was for a North that, coming together, could “take on the world”.

George Osborne delivering his Northern Powerhouse speech in 2014. (Image: PA/ARCHIVE)

It was for one where economic growth was no longer concentrated in the capital.

It would be achieved by “joining our northern cities together – not physically, or into some artificial political construct – but by providing the modern transport connections they need; by backing their science and universities; by backing their creative clusters; and giving them the local power and control that a powerhouse economy needs,” Mr Osborne said.

While he was realistic a “Northern Powerhouse can’t be build overnight”, he said the North would become the South’s “brother in arms”, as he unveiled a series of priorities to help boost the region’s economy and its future prospects.

But with a decade behind us and countless Northern Powerhouse and Levelling Up ministers having taken on the project, what has changed?.

Power

During his landmark speech Osborne set the ball rolling on devolution, arguably the main pledge delivered from the address.

He spoke of “big advantages in having an elected Mayor to represent your city”, praising then-London Mayor Boris Johnson’s advocacy of the capital, and said there was a “mis-match between the economic important of the great northern cities and their political clout”.

It was the Tees Valley which became one of the first to adopt an elected Mayor, with Osborne himself signing a devolution deal with local leaders in 2015.

Now the entire region is represented by Metro Mayors, with Kim McGuinness and David Skaith elected in May to represent the North East and North Yorkshire respectively, and Ben Houchen winning a third term in charge in the Tees Valley.

Kim McGuinness, North East Mayor. (Image: SARAH CALDECOTT)

Lord Houchen would argue schemes like Teesworks, undoubtedly bringing economic growth despite being marred in controversy, could never have been achieved without his input.

The Tories have delivered on their pledge to disperse power from London, and Labour are in full support with Keir Starmer’s party wanting strong local mayors representing every corner of England.

Investment

Hitachi’s Newton Aycliffe factory was hailed a prime example of the sort of investment which would help deliver a Northern Powerhouse by Mr Osborne in 2014, alongside Nissan.

The train maker’s rolling stock was already hitting the tracks across the country and had brought hundreds of skilled jobs to the region.

Hitachi in Newton Aycliffe. (Image: SARAH CALDECOTT)

But what a business like Hitachi needs right now is backing. Even in 2019 when this paper reflected on five years since the Northern Powerhouse speech we reported of unions’ concerns for the plant’s “increasingly concerning” future.

It faces redundancies within weeks unless a gap in its order book can be filled, between producing trains for the West Coast Mainline and HS2.

The Northern Echo has been campaigning for months to save the factory with our ‘Keep Hitachi on Track’ campaign.

Backed by Labour minsters who believe they have a solution to Hitachi’s problems, the current government has been less vocal in providing a solution which would prevent a derailment in Newton Aycliffe, although the PM insists he is taking action.

The Northern Echo is campaigning to 'Keep Hitachi on Track'. (Image: NORTHERN ECHO)

A Northern Powerhouse would mean “jobs and prosperity and security for people here over future decades”, Mr Osborne said ten years ago. For Hitachi’s workforce all three seem uncertain right now.

Transport

It is vital to provide the North with “modern transport connections they need”. That was the pledge at the centre of the Northern Powerhouse speech.

The northern leg of HS2, hailed “the most important investment in the North for a century” by Mr Osborne, has been scrapped. Rishi Sunak axed the scheme in October 2023, saying its £36bn price tag would be better spent on new transport projects in the North and Midlands.

We reported at the time how a new station in Ferryhill, the dualling of the A1 north of Morpeth and a Blyth relief road were among the projects be delivered with the funding.

The apparent reopening of the Leamside Line was outlined in a Government document, only for the pledge to be dropped within hours. Tory Party chair Richard Holden, then a transport minister, said the Government was now only “committed to looking into it”.

The Leamside Line.

A policy like reopening Leamside link, closed during Beeching in 1964, could be transformational for the region, and has long had cross-party support from MPs along its path.

When asked about the successes of the Northern Powerhouse by this newspaper last week a Conservative spokesperson said they had a “clear plan to deliver HS2 between Euston and West Midlands”. Should someone tell them the West Midlands is not, and never has been, in the North?

It seems local leaders, one of the Northern Powerhouse plan’s successes, are more eager to see transport improvements locally. New North East Mayor Kim McGuinness wants to see the Metro extended to Washington and to bring buses back into public hands. Meanwhile Ben Houchen announced a bold £1bn transport package including trackless trams at a speech in January. Without them advocating for these improvements, the North East feels slightly forgotten with HS2 never set to reach our region anyway.

Ben Houchen announcing his transport plans in January 2024. (Image: SA)

In 2014 Mr Osborne said: “The transport network in the north is simply not fit for purpose”. It would be hard to argue it was any better today.

Economy

At the centre of the Northern Powerhouse agenda was one to improve the regional and national economy.

“It’s a long-term plan for a country serious about its economic future”, Mr Osborne said.

At the time of his speech in 2014 he said the North East had the “fastest-growing economic activity” of anywhere in England, and alongside it was the region where people were joining the labour market at the fastest rate.

The Chancellor said: “Something remarkable has happened here in Manchester, and in Liverpool and Leeds and Newcastle and other northern cities over these last 30 years too.

“The once hollowed-out cities are thriving again, with growing universities, and huge improvements to the quality of life.”

According to North East Chamber of Commerce the North East created more jobs through inward investment than any other English region outside of London in 2022.

Deputy CEO Rhiannon Bearne added: “We talk about investment in the region as a down payment on future growth and prosperity, and many of the themes surfaced by the speech are ones we can see flourishing in the North East of today.”

Key sectors including digital, green energy and advanced manufacturing are growing fast.

But if the aim of a Northern Powerhouse is to create economic growth which benefits the region’s people, that is a long way off being achieved.

According to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation poverty in the North East remains at 25%, above the national average of 22%. The rate of child poverty here is the second worst in the UK. One in three babies, children and young people across the North East are growing up in poverty - and the area has experienced one of the steepest increases in child poverty rates over much of the last decade.