TheCityUK responds to PM’s levelling-up speech

As the Prime Minister made clear today, levelling up will mean different things in different areas. So, while our industry has the capacity to support the delivery of high-quality jobs, skills development, efficient connections and new infrastructure, it will also need to demonstrate how it can integrate with and support local leaders’ aims and objectives. “The UK’s financial and related professional services industry is a national asset, with two thirds of its 2.3 million employees based outside London. Half the industry’s exports come from outside the M25. There are 21 towns and cities across the country where more than 10,000 people are employed by the financial and related professional services industry. These people are doing specialist, highly skilled jobs, supporting the operations of some of the largest companies in the world. It makes a vast contribution across the UK’s regions and nations, and is already helping to level up the UK with the highly specialised jobs it delivers, the talent it nurtures and the transformative investments it makes across the economy.