The power shift to regional growth

You know a regional revolution could really be on the cards when the government floats the idea of a “Lords of the North” and no-one seems too surprised.

Recent confirmation from the Tory Party chairman that relocating the upper chamber from the capital was among a “range of options” being considered by government to “reconnect” politics with voters outside London, might have seemed ludicrous only a few months back.

It probably still does to those shocked peers who’d been expecting to trot across the road to the QEII Centre while Parliament was being refurbished, rather than potentially trekking up to the reported alternatives of York or Birmingham.

Yet setting aside any potential commuting issues for their lordships, this story mainly signals how the new administration in Downing Street appears to be genuinely committed to delivering on its election pledge to unify the UK and redress the balance of the nation’s ­economic and political power bases.

Of course, it’s still early days for Boris Johnson’s cabinet. The jury remains out on what will ultimately shake down from the whole regional growth narrative.

But if campaign promises are delivered on, they could spell landmark change for those companies – not least energy and water utilities – with real regional skin in the game.

Up until the weekend’s revelations, the key focus of regional development had largely been transport – particularly the ongoing rows about the burgeoning cost of HS2, and funding east-to-west rail connections linking northern towns with Manchester and Leeds. Yet servicing this huge level of increased local activity will make significant calls on the utilities industry.

And it is with this strategic political moment in mind that this week we launch a new series of Utility Week content, exploring just how the government’s new regional growth agenda will affect the sector and its legitimacy among the communities it serves.

With its focus on fairer outcomes for consumers and industrial strategy, our new series is a natural follow-on from our 2019 New Deal for Utilities campaign.

We will be looking at what “levelling up” – particularly between the North and the South – could mean in practice for energy and water companies, politically, operationally, financially and in terms of future regulation.

Because what started out sounding like political vote-chasing rhetoric is now fast-showing real signs of becoming radical government  policy.