Osborne to confirm Northern Powerhouse think tank
George Osborne will today confirm his plans, revealed by City PM earlier this week, to launch a new Northern Powerhouse think tank.
At an event in Manchester the former chancellor will pledge to preserve and build on the work he started in Number 11, and issue a thinly-veiled attack on Theresa May for sidelining the project.
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Osborne, whose constituency is in Cheshire, will say: “There’s a real excitement now in the North about what we can achieve if we work together. I don’t want us to lose that.”
New PM May had appeared to discard the policy upon entering Number 10, instead favouring a broader industrial strategy. Her government is also expected to adopt a looser fiscal stance to the approach taken during Osborne's time as chancellor.
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Sajid Javid, the communities secretary, who was tipped as a future chancellor had Osborne gone on to succeed David Cameron, will also welcome the initiative, dubbed the “Northern Powerhouse Partnership”, as a vehicle to “boost jobs, growth and opportunities in the north of England”.
Speaking to The Sun earlier this week, Osborne said: “I care passionately about the north of England and will be setting out my plans to support the Northern Powerhouse in the near future."