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🇬🇧 United Kingdom /Economy & Trade

Chancellor to unveil growth plan with £150m fund for northern firms

From BBC News · () English

Summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources New plan
  • Chancellor John Healey is expected to announce a £150 million British Business Bank fund for innovative and fast-growing companies in northern England.
  • The plan would provide investments of £5 million to £15 million and use public money to attract private capital, including for university spin-outs.
  • Opposition parties and an economic think tank questioned whether the fund would significantly improve growth or ease pressure on families and businesses before the Budget.

John Healey is set to unveil a £150 million fund for companies in northern England as part of a broader attempt to spread economic growth across the United Kingdom.

In a speech on Monday, the chancellor is expected to say that public investment should attract private capital and help create jobs in the areas that need them. The money has already been allocated to the British Business Bank and will support investments ranging from £5 million to £15 million.

The next chapter of Britain's growth story will be written in more places.

· John HealeyHe is expected to use the line in a speech outlining the regional growth plan.

The fund is expected to back university spin-outs and other ambitious businesses described as innovative and fast-growing. Healey is also expected to say that Britain’s next phase of growth must be written in more places, after the prime minister identified what the government believes went wrong in the past.

The announcement comes before Healey’s first Budget on Oct. 28, amid pressure over rising government borrowing costs and the inflationary impact of the Iran war. During his first Prime Minister’s Questions, Andy Burnham faced scrutiny over borrowing costs, which had reached an 18-year high. The government said it would remain grounded in fiscal responsibility, while Conservatives blamed the plan’s limits on the government’s wider financial pressures.

Economic growth in every postcode sounds great and is something we would all love. I think it'll actually be much harder to achieve in practice.

· Helen MillerShe questioned how realistically the government could deliver growth across every area.

Helen Miller of the Institute for Fiscal Studies said growth in every postcode would be welcome but difficult to achieve. She said it would be easier to see how policy could strengthen major second and third cities than how it could generate growth in literally every postcode.

The Conservatives said the proposal would do little to reassure working families and businesses worried about tax rises and borrowing rates. Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper said reannouncing £150 million across the entire north would barely affect growth. Reform UK also criticized the plan, while Conservative figures raised concerns about national security and defence spending.

Re-announcing £150m across the entire north of England will barely shift the dial on growth.

· Daisy CooperThe Liberal Democrat deputy leader criticized the scale of the proposed fund.
About this summary

Originally published by BBC News. Summarized and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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