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Mayors to drive growth

ended 01. June 2026

Keen to get your views on a Government announcement overnight that mayors in England are to be given more power to fuel innovation and boost jobs in their region through Local Innovation Partnerships Fund. The Fund helps local leaders target R&D investments to support opportunities for growth and support innovations which improve people’s lives, from new medical technology to cleaner energy. This comes alongside the announcement today of two projects in Liverpool set to receive £23.7 million in Local Innovation Partnerships funding.

Qs: Are mayors really the best people to drive regional economic growth? What do you make of this announcement as a whole? And how would you suggest the Government drives growth?

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Editor
Nouran Moustafa
Practice Principal & IFA at Roxton Wealth
Mayors can play an important role in regional growth because they are closer to the real economy than Whitehall. They understand local employers, universities, skills shortages, transport gaps and the industries that actually have momentum. So in principle, giving them more power over innovation funding makes sense.

But funding announcements do not create growth by themselves. The test is whether this money turns into commercial businesses, skilled jobs and private investment, not just another nicely branded government scheme.

The UK does not have a shortage of ideas. It has a shortage of execution, confidence and joined-up policy. Innovation needs capital, skills, infrastructure, planning certainty and a tax environment that makes founders want to take risks here.

Back mayors where they have credible local plans, but do not pretend regional growth can be delivered by grants alone. Growth happens when public funding unlocks private ambition. Otherwise, it is just expensive optimism.