Way before the drums of change were banging about leadership, the place-based investment strategy was a key element of the government’s plan. The increased powers of Metro Mayors have helped drive investment based on a local network and first-hand experience. Their impact has been powerful, with many examples of bringing investment to their regions. Currently, a one-horse race could see Andy Burnham as PM by 17 July 2026. Does Burnham’s history as the Mayor of Greater Manchester elevate and accelerate the place-based investment thesis?
What is place-based investment?
‘Levelling up’ has been a phrase batted around for a while now, at its heart, the mission was to encourage investment UK- wide, not just London and the South East. In R&D terms, the golden triangle between Cambridge, Oxford and London still dominates. Frustration had mounted over the higher-skilled and higher-paid jobs that don’t escape those boundaries and it was time to level up across the country.
The evolution of this mission has been more practical, so instead of money being pumped in, there is a need for the ecosystem to come together and for the nuance and uniqueness of each area to be fully appreciated and leveraged. The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act (2026) formalises the ambition for strategic authorities to have greater powers and more freedom when it comes to the area a Mayor represents.
What is the R&D focus for Mayors?
A comprehensive piece of work by the Centre for Cities is a broad and useful guide, so I only want to focus on how Mayors support business. Mayors are responsible for the local growth plan, growth hubs and, in some instances, the office for investment partnership.
What this means in practice is that the Metro Mayor should be completely dialled into the regional strengths and opportunities to pull together deals. Their success in the economy is simply getting deals done that drive each area forward. Take the Local Innovation Partner Fund as a clear strategy that aims to cut out Whitehall and deals directly to identify high-potential innovation clusters and help build the strongest possible ecosystem for them to thrive in.
Some notable deals include Steve Rotheram creating up to 1,000 jobs thanks to a deal with Kyndryl AI to set up a Liverpool City Region tech hub. In West Yorkshire, Tracy Brabin pulled in a £106.6m deal with Microsoft to develop a hyperscale data centre.
With private investment a key metric of public R&D investment return, the Mayor of Greater Manchester and hotly tipped next PM Andy Burnham focused on a locally controlled investment pipeline that leverages public capital to unlock private capital with the announcement of the Manchester Good Growth fund with a whopping £500m to boot.
Time to accelerate with a new driver?
This government’s Industrial Strategy has given clear signals of industries that need to be backed. What is less clear is if the big bets are being hunted by the central DSIT team or greater diversity with the power at local level.
Andy Burnham’s first-hand experience, and indeed initial indications in his speech on 29 June, would suggest a big backing for place-based investment. He has seen the positive impact business investment has on an area, in jobs and transport, to name but a few. With pressure mounting over making the books balance and the potential of a bloated civil service, could we see less head office and more regional boots on the ground? Indeed, No. 10 North would clearly indicate that is the direction of travel. Seems a safe bet that the blueprint that went into Greater Manchester may give us a clue to what’s around the corner for the UK as a whole.
