MIPIM UK: Local government leaders in the North are less capable, said speakers at the MIPIM UK debate “Bridging the North:South divide”.
Mark Thurston, managing director of CH2MHILL, said: “The further away from London you go the more you notice the issue of calibre and capability of leadership in local government.”
Mark Gregory from Ernst & Young said the biggest problem foreign investors had was knowing who to approach outside London and stressed the importance of a cohesive national framework that supports regions outside of London.
Nevertheless, all speakers agreed that devolution was the key to strengthening the North. Jackie Sadek said George Osbourne’s speech about creating Northern powerhouse had “captured the country’s imagination like no other”.
She added: “We have 50 years of centralisation to combat. The current model is bust.”
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