Northern Powerhouse slips further behind the South
Data released by Creditsafe, the global business intelligence experts, has revealed that the government’s plans to boost economic growth in the North of England continued to stall in 2016.
The figures, from Creditsafe’s Year in Review 2016 report, show that the North saw fewer company start-ups (114,929) compared to the South (174,680) in 2016 and more company closures (8,748 in the North, 5,480 in the South).
Comparing year-on-year data reveals the North experienced a downward trend in 2016 from the previous year with a 0.9% decrease in company start-ups (116,017 in 2015 compared with 114,929 in 2016) and 56% increase in company closures (5,606 in 2015 compared with 8,748 in 2016).
The UK as a whole (including London) saw 605,570 start-ups in 2016, down 0.8% on 2015 (610,589) and 23,571 company closures, an increase of 23% on the previous year (19,067).
Rachel Mainwaring, operations director at Creditsafe, said:
“The figures paint a relatively gloomy picture for the North – start-ups are down and company closures are up. The focus of the Northern Powerhouse initiative was to grow the economy of the North, counterbalance London domination and helping the cities of the North work closer together. What we’re seeing is that even with subtracting London’s figures, the South continues to perform and the North/South divide continues.”
Creditsafe’s report showed that across the Northern counties, the North West saw the highest number of company start-ups (65,603 compared with 38,129 in Yorkshire and 11,197 in the North East). By comparison, Yorkshire saw the most company closures (5,722 compared with 2,495 in the North West and 531 in the North East).