Britain’s county councils have called on the government to ‘unshackle’ the region after reports revealed an uneven concentration of foreign investment across the country.
A study commissioned by EY on behalf of the County Councils Network (CCN) found that the per capita rate of foreign direct investment (FDI) projects in England’s 36 county areas over the past four years was higher than that of the UK’s largest cities. was only half of It has access to delegated powers and is one-seventh the size of London.
“This is despite the county securing more FDI projects in the past four years than major cities governed by joint mayoral authorities. It shows,” CCN said.
EY Report, Global Britain, Global Counties: Attracting Foreign Direct Investment, which can be downloaded here. It suggested:
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- FDI in England to perform well in 2021, recovering from the coronavirus pandemic. His FDI projects across the country increased by 1.8% year-on-year to 993 in 2021, bringing the total number of projects to England since 2018 to his 3,480, with over 125,000 job creations announced. I was.
- These projects are skewed across the country, with counties in England showing lower levels of population-adjusted investment. There are 761 FDI projects secured in the county between 2018 and 2021, which is 7.3 per capita. This is a proportion of projects secured by nine composite authorities ( It was almost half of 13.2) per person. By delegation of authority. The county total is one-seventh of London’s ratio of 50 FDI projects per capita.
- England’s regional counties “lagged well behind the country’s major urban areas”. Followed by the East Midlands (9.1). The South West counties attracted the least FDI (4.1), followed by Yorkshire and Humber (6.3) and the South East (6.6).
- Investments in rural areas create more jobs than in urban areas. FDI has created more jobs in the county (40,169) over the past four years than London’s total (39,357). His FDI projects in county areas have generated 83 jobs on average each. This is higher than the combined Mayoral Agencies and London, which sees an average of 39 jobs per project.
- Counties and rural areas are “well positioned to support more diversified FDI investments to sustain the economy through the recession. Business, professional and digital accounting account for a smaller share of FDI.” As such, the analysis shows that counties and rural areas have significant comparative advantages in transport and logistics, agri-food and manufacturing, with the counties expected to contribute to England’s overall FDI in these sectors from 2018 to 2021. 42% of the total, meaning the county is uniquely positioned to attract both emerging industries while helping deliver a renaissance in the UK’s manufacturing and food economy. To do.”
CCN has called on the government to end negotiations with nine counties that Level Up Secretary Michael Gove announced in February. The deal he has agreed on only three areas. Then, by the end of the year, he said there should be a new wave of county agreements by the end of the year, with the ultimate ambition of having two-thirds of them sign agreements or start discussions. .
Tim Oliver, president of the County Councils Network, said at the CCN conference this week: We are uniquely positioned to attract investment in both new and traditional industries, and our rural location creates more jobs than any other part of the country.
“But despite this, the provinces lag behind the big cities and London when it comes to FDI, which is unevenly spread across the country. It is important that the government facilitates devolution in currently economically disadvantaged areas, as it is a city with devolution agreements that allow it to draw
“To level up the country, the government must unbind the counties. We need to have all the tools we can.”
EY UK&I Government and Infrastructure Leader Rohan Malik commented: His post-2025 capital spending freeze announced by the government, alongside the increasingly significant financial constraints facing local governments, once again presents an opportunity for the private sector to play a role in addressing these inequalities. It means that it is getting bigger than it should be.
“Attracting foreign direct investment, and business investment more generally, is an important means of stimulating local growth. It is possible that local governments will attract more private sector investment. But it will require a multidisciplinary approach, with businesses, central and local governments working closely together to take action over the long term.”
