UK nations and regions
North West England
North West England offers a thriving, diverse economy with circa 33,000 new businesses registered in 2024. The region has access to skilled talent, excellent transport links and strong growth in business services, fintech and hospitality sectors.
Home to nearly 7 million people and 230,000 companies, three-quarters of the nation's Top 100 companies operate here. Greater Manchester has secured £476.7 million in government investment to support economic growth that compliments key sectoral strengths in digital, creative, manufacturing, financial services, life sciences, and clean energy. The £660 million Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II (NPIF II) launched in March 2024 and will support the growth of small and medium-sized businesses across the entire North of England.
Key facts for North West England
Greater Manchester voted top large UK City for Foreign Direct Investment (FDI)
30 to 40% typical operating cost savings compared to London and the South East
£78.7 billion annual output
UNESCO World Heritage site Liverpool docks and Port of Liverpool provide international logistics capabilities
£660 million Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF) II from the British Business Bank
25-minute journey time between Liverpool and Manchester with planned high-speed train line
An industrial strategy for the whole of the UK
The modern Industrial Strategy is a new economic approach – a whole-of-government effort to back the UK’s strengths, with ambitious plans for 8 high-growth sectors (‘IS-8’) and the frontier industries at their leading edge, from quantum to pharmaceuticals. It is a 10-year plan, built on stability and openness, to make the UK the best country to invest in.
Building on the North West's strengths
The North West already has a huge amount to celebrate and the Industrial Strategy’s Sector Plans promote its wide-ranging strengths to investors.
Advanced manufacturing
The North West is home to world-leading research facilities and manufacturing clusters, including aerospace capabilities around BAE Systems' Warton and Samlesbury sites in Lancashire. Greater Manchester hosts the Advanced Materials and Manufacturing Investment Zone, while there are automotive clusters in Liverpool City Region and Cheshire, including production facilities for Bentley, Ford, JLR, and Stellantis and Leyland Trucks in Lancashire.
Clean energy industries
The North West is home to a nuclear fission cluster, with Springfields, Capenhurst, and Sellafield which employs 12,000 employees and spends £1.7 billion annually on supply chains. The HyNet CCUS (carbon capture, usage and storage) cluster is projected to support thousands of jobs, and it is home to a high fusion concentration and adjacent expertise in areas such as UKAEA (UK Atomic Energy Authority) RACE AI Robotic Collaboration.
Creative industries
Greater Manchester is home to the largest number of creative businesses outside London. It has world-class creative developments such as MediaCityUK, BBC North, SODA and Factory International, and ambitious plans for Greater Manchester's Music Export Office, a UK-first which will catapult home-grown talent onto international stages. Liverpool City Region is home to over 50 active gaming companies such as Sony PlayStation, and the most filmed location outside of London, with trailblazing LCR Production Fund and planned Littlewoods world class film/TV studios and production space. UKRI's £6.8 million MusicFutures Creative Cluster will spearhead the proposed Music Lab facility, reimagining how we create and consume music.
Defence
The North West boasts concept-to-delivery manufacturing, digital, and cyber strengths with unique full platform and system testing capabilities. BAE Systems are building cutting-edge Dreadnought-class submarines in Barrow-in-Furness, and components for current and next generation military aircraft at Warton and Samlesbury. Naval shipbuilding and maintenance is supported by Cammell Laird in Birkenhead.
Digital and technologies
Greater Manchester has 51,000 digital roles across 5,000 digital and tech businesses. It is a significant AI cluster, valued at £3.14 billion, with 250 companies, 13,500 employees and £1.8 billion turnover. It has an ecosystem of intelligence and defence organisations, such as GCHQ Manchester and the Greater Manchester Digital Security Hub, supports 177 thriving cyber security companies with a turnover of £1.7 billion. Liverpool City Region is home to STFC Daresbury Laboratory and the Hartree National Centre for Digital Innovation in partnership with IBM, plus PsiQuantum's world-leading R&D lab. It's one of the world's first Civic Data Cooperatives and city-scale digital twinning platform, and is underpinned by the 214-km gigabit-capable Liverpool City Region Connect fibre backhaul network completed in 2024.
Life sciences
The North West is a leading hub for collaborative development and commercialisation and has a large employment cluster, including Greater Manchester's Oxford Road Corridor, Knowledge Quarter Liverpool and Sci-Tech Daresbury and Cheshire's Alderley Park. Key assets include UK BioBank HQ, Medicines Discovery Catapult, Biomanufacturing Cluster and Europe's largest cancer campus, the Christie.
Financial services
Greater Manchester is home to major global firms such as BNY Mellon, JP Morgan, Swiss Re, Vanguard and S&P Global. There is a large pool of financial services professionals, with strong transport infrastructure including links to London and three international airports. Spinningfields development has helped to attract private investment, creating thousands of jobs.
Professional and business services (PBS)
Greater Manchester is the largest PBS sector outside London, with growth ambitions focused on its Central Growth Corridor and key town centres. It has specialist academic institutions providing a highly skilled workforce with a PBS talent count of over 111,000 and over 9,000 graduates, and a vibrant ecosystem of PBS support organisations, building capacity in and advocating for the sector, including Pro-Manchester, GM Growth Hub, MIDAS, Manchester Digital, FinTech North, and the GM Chamber of Commerce. Liverpool City Region's PBS sector has grown by 11% in real terms over the last five years, with a third of the region's high-growth companies in Financial and Professional Services. It has a deep talent pool in law, science and technology, especially for life sciences and maritime, enhanced by close collaboration between Liverpool City Region's universities and professional services. Its transatlantic port offers a competitively costed location for maritime legal services, with increasing advisory needs as maritime shifts to green technology.
Foundational industries relevant to IS-8 supply chains
Chemicals production is a major employer in Cheshire. There is glass manufacturing in St Helens and Ellesmere Port. The North West has a number of ports and a construction industry.
Driving regional growth in the North West
The Industrial Strategy introduces ambitious policies to drive growth and investment across every nation and region of the UK. This is a 10-year strategy which will be a living document. We want to continue to work with local government, Mayoral Strategic Authorities and devolved governments to ensure they can drive growth across the UK.
More policies will be delivered over time, but below are some of the specific interventions in the North West that form part of our strategy.
Locally targeted investments in the IS-8 growth driving sectors
- New professional and business services hubs in Greater Manchester and Liverpool City Region to support local PBS businesses, connect local investment projects with potential investors, and support the adoption of AI
- £64 million pilot scheme in the North of England to improve PBS (the 'Made Smarter' pilot)
- Greater Manchester and Liverpool City Region will receive devolved funding from the £150 million Creative Places Growth Fund to support creative businesses and freelancers in their region
Devolved funding for the local leaders who know their places best to help deliver their Local Growth Plans
- At least £30 million earmarked each for Greater Manchester CA and Liverpool City Region CA through the Local Innovation Partnerships Fund. This will empower local leaders to decide how to target research investment in the region and unleash its full innovation potential
- Recommitting £160 million investment to support tax relief and bolster Investment Zones for Advanced Manufacturing in Greater Manchester and Life Sciences in Liverpool City Region
Tools to help city regions and clusters attract private investment
- £100 million expansion of the British Business Bank's Nations and Regions Investment Funds. New Cluster Champions for Greater Manchester and Liverpool City Region will support this by strengthening local financial networks and helping to connect firms with investors
- A strategic partnership between Greater Manchester and the National Wealth Fund, providing enhanced, hands-on support to help develop and secure long-term investment opportunities
Connecting city regions and clusters
- Delivering on our commitments to the TransPennine Rail Upgrade through rail investment between York and Manchester via Leeds and Huddersfield
- Better local transport links, with £2.5 billion for Greater Manchester and £1.6 billion for Liverpool City Region in Transport for City Regions funding. This will deliver new tram stops in Bury, Manchester and Oldham and a Metrolink extension to Stockport, a fully electric Bee Network in Manchester, 3 new bus rapid transit routes to the Liverpool John Lennon Airport, Everton stadium and Anfield and a brand-new fleet of buses for Liverpool City Region's franchised bus network
- Research England has confirmed £4.8 million of funding to support Greater Manchester CA and Cambridge and Peterborough CA's ambitions around the Cambridge-Manchester Innovation Partnership, strengthening the link between these hubs of innovation to attract more business investment and pilot new approaches to collaboration
An Industrial Strategy Advisory Council based in Manchester
- The Council will inform and monitor the development and delivery of the Industrial Strategy, putting the city at the heart of national economic policymaking