British Business Bank funding of £150 million will be used to provide investing to fast growing businesses in the North of England.
Chancellor John Healey will make the announcement during a visit to a manufacturing firm where he deliver a speech outlining the government’s “direction for good growth built in more places”.
The fund, from money already allocated to the British Business Bank, will provide investments of between £5 million and £15 million to university spinouts and other scaling businesses in the North.
He will also say the National Wealth Fund has agreed strategic partnerships with South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, North East Mayoral Strategic Authority and Cardiff Capital Region.
The National Wealth Fund is a government investment fund which partners with the private sector and local authorities to finance infrastructure and other projects in growth industries such as green energy.
During the speech, ahead of the Budget on 28 October and the prime minister’s announcement of a 10-year plan for growth in the UK, Healey will say:
“Ask an economist what growth is and you’ll get a number. But ask the country and you’ll get a different answer. A young person getting a new job in a company that’s on the up. A sole trader winning a new contract that pays for a holiday with their kids. A business winning a new export order, giving the community around it a new lease of life.
“The prime minister laid out a clear diagnosis of what has gone wrong in the past. The solution is a fundamental shift that starts with putting power in the right places.
“The next chapter of Britain’s growth story will be written in more places.
“Instead of getting in the way with complexity and red tape, we need a strong, strategic centre wired to enable local leaders and their ambitions.
“That’s why we created No10 North, working on a dual mission with the Treasury, removing obstacles so that local leaders and businesses can pull together to drive growth and productivity.
“I want to see wealth creation in this country. I want to see businesses make a profit. And to create the conditions for that we need an active, accountable state at all levels to remove blockages and create the conditions for more investment.”