First George Osborne took the ‘northern powerhouse’ to China - and now the Prime Minister is pitching it to America.
David Cameron was this evening selling the concept to New York in a bid to usher stateside investment into Greater Manchester and beyond.
He will seek to attract thousands of new jobs to the north while in the Big Apple for a round-table with major investors including Amazon, JP Morgan Chase and Thomson Reuters.
It is the first time the case for the Tories’ northern powerhouse concept has been made in America and comes after the Chancellor took Manchester and Trafford council leaders to China in a similar mission last week.
Mr Cameron said: “A new job is created in the north of England every six and a half minutes. It is also home to at least 23 universities – all brimming with development opportunities and in Sunderland alone, they make more cars than the whole of Italy.
“I want to build on these successes and make the north of England a global powerhouse – so we can truly rebalance our economy and spread opportunity across the country.
“That is exactly why I am using my time here in America to speak about the immense opportunities in the north of England to some of the world’s biggest businesses.”
His meeting will seek to bring American cash into the north rather than other more high-profile parts of the UK, primarily London - while also highlighting existing investment by American companies in the north, including the Bank of New York Mellon, which employs more than 1,000 people in Manchester.
It comes after George Osborne, Manchester council leader Sir Richard Leese and Trafford council leader Sean Anstee - among others - toured China last week in a major trade mission to the far East.
On that trip Mr Osborne ‘opened the book’ £24bn of potential northern investment - in a bid to usher in a huge wave of Chinese cash.
The trip was partly aimed at putting Manchester on the map for Chinese business leaders, with the city’s global profile often resting more on its football teams than its business opportunities.
However investors from the country have recently already committed big money to both Manchester airport and Gary Neville’s new development off Deansgate.
