Foreign investment grows in north of England but falls in rest of UK Increase in FDI is only ‘notable success’ of Northern Powerhouse project, says former Treasury minister A café in Harrogate, North Yorkshire. FDI rose 72% across the North West, North East and Yorkshire and the Humber during 2017-2021, compared with the previous five-year period © Ian Forsyth/Getty Images Foreign investment grows in north of England but falls in rest of UK on twitter (opens in a new window) Foreign investment grows in north of England but falls in rest of UK on facebook (opens in a new window) Foreign investment grows in north of England but falls in rest of UK on linkedin (opens in a new window) Save current progress 52% Jennifer Williams SEPTEMBER 26 2022 38 Print this page Receive free Foreign direct investment updates We’ll send you a myFT Daily Digest email rounding up the latest Foreign direct investment news every morning. The value of foreign direct investment into the north of England has risen by almost three-quarters in the past five years while falling in every other part of the UK, including London. Analysis of market data and government statistics carried out by the Northern Powerhouse Partnership lobby group — whose economists include former Treasury minister Lord Jim O’Neill — also shows that the north has increased its share of the UK’s FDI projects from 19 per cent to 33 per cent over the same period, overtaking London. The number of jobs created in the north rose by 18 per cent. O’Neill, who spearheaded the “Northern Powerhouse” push to boost the region’s economy between 2015 and 2016 when George Osborne was chancellor, said the rise represented the only “notable success” to have emerged from the project. He added that the rest of the agenda had “dwindled” under the Tory administrations that followed. During Osborne’s chancellorship the north was marketed heavily to overseas investors, particularly in Asia. The latest analysis, which combined data from fDi Markets, part of the Financial Times group, with those from the Office for National Statistics and the Department for International Trade, shows FDI rising by 72 per cent — from $25.257bn to $43.683bn — across the North West, North East and Yorkshire and the Humber during the years 2017-2021, compared with the previous five-year period. In Greater London and the South East it fell 14 per cent, from $56.26bn to $48.524bn. FDI also fell in all other regions, with Scotland recording the largest drop, at 23 per cent. O’Neill highlighted that Asian investment into the north had risen 7 per cent while it had “plummeted” 56 per cent across the rest of the UK. “I often felt that the Northern Powerhouse concept was better understood by investors in Asia than it was among politicians and financiers in London,” he added. The agenda was designed to capitalise on the potential of northern cities, and to provide a counterweight to London in an economy with some of the greatest regional disparities of any major western country.
