New mayoral industrial strategy councils should be established to help drive sustainable manufacturing and boost local areas in the north, think tank says.
The north of England produces half of England’s renewable energy and provides 36% of all UK jobs in green goods and services, according to IPPR North.
The think tank says that the north’s industrial strengths should be used ‘as a springboard to competitive green manufacturing industries.’
Mayoral industrial strategy councils, chaired by the local mayor and including membership from local councils, can help ‘support and deliver local industrial action.’
IPPR North researcher Dr Ryan Swift commented: ‘The road to prosperity is paved through the north which is already the motor behind the country’s green manufacturing.
‘With an industrial strategy that works with and for regions, we can build a growing economy that not only tackles the climate crisis but also closes the place-based inequalities deepened by decades of deindustrialisation.’