The New Northern Powerhouse & New London with more power

setmefree2

Jim O’Neill Is Taking a Job in the U.K. Government

Jim O’Neill, the former Goldman Sachs Group Inc. economist who coined the BRIC moniker, is joining the U.K. government to lead its effort to devolve more power to cities.
O’Neill, 58, will be commercial secretary for city devolution and infrastructure for the Treasury, the government said on its website Thursday. The position will be unpaid. O’Neill was also made a member of House of Lords, the upper chamber of Parliament.


The move comes as Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne promotes his “Northern Powerhouse,” a policy aimed at investing in the infrastructure of northern cities to boost their economies. In his first speech since the Conservatives won last week’s general election, Osborne announced “sweeping devolution” for English cities, including allowing Manchester to elect a mayor in 2017 with powers over transport, housing, planning and policing.


“The old model of trying to run everything in our country from the center of London is broken,” Osborne said in Manchester.
Raised near Manchester and a lifelong fan of Manchester United Football Club, O’Neill published a report last year calling for the U.K. economy to be made less reliant on London.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-05-14/bric-builder-o-neill-said-to-take-cities-role-in-u-k-government


A man who knows how to get things done.

Can we give him supporting Man United?

wotsthat

As powers are devolved from Westminster shouldn't the number of parliamentary MP's be reduced?

I'm sure politicians think the best solution to any problem is to create more politicians but is there any real evidence to show devolution has boosted the economies of Scotland, Wales or NI?

setmefree2

Jim O'Neill: London must put the right case for more powers

It is one of the most talked-about political demands since the Scottish referendum: give London more power. The case for it is superficially clear. London has more inhabitants than Scotland and Wales combined, and a much bigger economy. It is arguably the world’s greatest city and easily the most dominant in the UK.

The case for giving London more powers also lies in the related fact that Londoners retain a comparatively small share of the taxes raised from them. Certainly by comparison with other major global cities the case for more powers is strong.
Yet London is, despite its challenges, hugely successful, both globally and even more so relative to other UK cities. It has got into this position despite the apparent unfairness in terms of powers. Moreover, relative to other British cities, London at least retains some power over major decisions — whereas other less prosperous cities have hardly any.
This is why the goal of the independent City Growth Commission, which I chaired, was to think of interventions that might raise the economic performance of major urban areas outside London — metro areas, as we christened them — in a way that would not subtract from London and would boost the nation’s growth.
We have been lucky with the timing of our research. But I don’t think the case for more powers for cities —London or elsewhere — should be excessively focused on the Scottish issue. While fairness might warrant a devolution of powers to London, in economic terms London is already hugely successful.

http://www.standard.co.uk/comment/comment/jim-oneill-london-must-put-the-right-case-for-more-powers-9851575.html

setmefree2

Same Article

The basic premise of the commission was to look at the challenge in primarily economic terms. In our final report we showed that if various interventions were to raise the Gross Value Added (GVA) of the 15 metro areas we focused on, and London stayed the same, by 2030 the net real economic benefit to the UK could be some £60 billion, or about 0.2 per cent of real GDP in terms of our long-term trend growth rate.

http://www.standard.co.uk/comment/comment/jim-oneill-london-must-put-the-right-case-for-more-powers-9851575.html

setmefree2

Metro Growth : The UK's Economic Opportunity

http://www.citygrowthcommission.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Metro-Growth-February-2014.pdf