Member Article

What should the Liverpool City Region expect from the Autumn Statement

Chair of the Liverpool City Region Local Enterprise Partnership, Robert Hough, gives his views on the Chanellor’s autumn statement

At 12.30 today, Chancellor George Osborne will deliver what promises to be one of the most important statements unveiling plans with the potential to shape the future of the Liverpool City Region.

His ‘Northern Powerhouse’ speech coupled with the close-run Scottish independence referendum and the rise in popularity of UKIP, particularly in the North, have combined to highlight the question of regional devolution. And it is on the subject of devolution that we hope and detect further signs of the freeing of the Westminster reins.

While we do not anticipate a major announcement – this we hope will come in the Spring – we do expect there to be a strong signal of intent and a clear indication of what might be on the cards for the Northern cities.

Where we do expect there to be new commitments, is with announcements relating to the resources of the next round of Growth Deal funding. The Liverpool City Region secured £232 million in the first funding round a figure which was confirmed by Cities Minister Greg Clark in a recent visit to the region.

Earlier this week, we were able to add significant detail to this spending relating to a number of transport infrastructure schemes in the City Region. These include improvements to the road access to the Port of Liverpool, a new junction on the M56 to allow access to the new Mersey crossing and improvements to the M53 mid-Wirral motorway.

Another area where we anticipate a renewed emphasis is in a commitment to skills and helping young people fulfil their potential. Our Growth Deal saw us secure £41million commitment to skills capital funding ensuring our young people are properly trained for the jobs of today and tomorrow and it is vital we continue to invest in this area.

The Autumn Statement this year takes on additional significance coming just six months before the 2015 election, so we should not be too surprised if something wholly unexpected were to emerge.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Robert Allat .