Enabling growth – our manifestos for the incoming metro mayors

On Thursday 2 May voters throughout the UK will head to the polls to choose a metro mayor for their region. We have put together a series of manifestos for the incoming mayor in each region – you can read the manifesto by clicking the relevant location on the map below.

You can also see a summary of our recommendations on how financial and related professional services can help drive growth in these regions and the wider economy further down the page.

Our recommendations

The following recommendations identify three key areas where the incoming regional mayors can make meaningful changes to help unlock the potential of financial and related professional services, to drive growth across their region’s economy.

1) Engaging the industry

As the combined authority grows and develops, the role of business will remain critical to its success.

The mayor should:

• Publish and update a comprehensive plan for economic growth in Yorkshire and The Humber. This should include clear metrics and identify specific ways in which businesses from key industries, including financial and related professional services, can contribute to the mayor’s vision for economic growth in the region.
• Develop an industry-specific strategy for financial and related professional services, reflecting our role as an engine for growth in the wider economy generating jobs and economic output.
• Ensure that every sector of the economy, especially the services industry, is fully represented in both business forums and the mayor’s work in promoting the region overseas.

2) People

Local policymakers and business leaders are best placed to identify the skills needed in their regions, particularly in developing and specialised areas, such as specialist forms of FinTech or LawTech. They can engage with local schools and universities to ensure that young people can learn about industries in their local area early on in their educational journey. The mayor can also help to highlight role models in our industry to help attract young people from less advantaged socio-economic backgrounds.

The mayor should:

• Bring together a wide employer network to contribute to the Local Skills Improvement Plan. This will ensure that the plan reflects the needs of the regional economy.
• Ensure that plans for mapping and addressing skills needs, align closely with the wider vision for economic growth, including creating capacity for training and re-skilling in growth sectors.
• Help connect schools, colleges and universities to engage employers in all areas of the education process, for instance in areas such as curriculum and course design.

3) Prosperity

There has been significant progress in attracting investment to hubs outside London, including in Yorkshire and The Humber, and policymakers should seek to build on this work. However, the ability to communicate and travel between locations remains a key barrier to maximising productivity. Effective digital and transport infrastructure will enhance the connectivity of thriving regional hubs, helping to support greater growth across all industries, not just financial and related professional services.

The mayor should:

• Work with the government to encourage further investment in an enhanced national rail network and supplement this by developing a unified transport strategy to move people and goods more easily.
• Continue to partner with the government to improve the region’s digital infrastructure, in particular the rollout of 5G.
• Provide businesses and potential investors in the region with clarity on how they can engage with the Combined Authority. Our industry can make a contribution to economic growth when there are clear structures in place for engagement between government and industry.