Has the East Midlands been overlooked for too long as a business hub And should the government rethink its idea of a Northern Powerhouse and instead look to the East Midlands as the obvious base The answer to these two questions is, quite simply, yes.
By Paul King
The delivery of the first Conservative Queen’s speech in almost 20 years marked a significant moment for the UK, with the government committing itself to introduce legislation with the aim to rebalance the economic recovery through the devolution of power and the creation of a “Northern Powerhouse”.
In June 2014, the Chancellor George Osborne set out plans to make a “Northern powerhouse”. This was in part due to the latest Autumn Statement revealing that employment in the three months to September in northern regions increased by 2.6 per cent, 0.3 per cent higher than the national average. This spoke volumes about the north being one of the centres driving economic growth.
