‘Army’ of Northern Powerhouse SMEs central to region’s economic growth, according to banking chairman

The North’s ‘army’ of SMEs and startups need to mobilise for the region’s economic potential to be fully realized, the Northern Powerhouse International Conference and Exhibition was told today.

During a keynote speech at the conference in Manchester, Richard Gregory, chairman of the Yorkshire Bank, explained that the North still needed to create more startups for its economy to grow. Mr Gregory said: “We need more high growth business.”

In addition, he told the audience that the North must build on the increased confidence already seen across the region, with record levels of office development in centres like Manchester and Leeds.

The banking chairman went on to say that the region also needed to attract more companies that wanted to get involved with ‘North-shoring’ and greater levels of international inward investment.

Accoridng to Mr Gregory, the Northern Powerhouse should only be considered a success if it delivered economic growth, not just in the region’s major cities but across its towns and more rural areas.

He stated: “To be judged a success across what we are talking about in terms of a Northern Powerhouse, we need to deliver this not just across our relatively successful metropolitan centres, our cities, but also at the same time across the more challenged urban districts, and rural areas as well.”

Mr Gregory further explained that the North needed to speak with “more confidence” and show that it supported ambition and could deliver.

He added: “Central to this for me is mobilising the potential of the army of SMEs that we have in the North.”

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