East Midlands Economy

Jane Hunt Excerpts

Tuesday 7th September 2021 Westminster Hall

[Jane Hunt (Loughborough) (Con)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Sir David.

Despite the east midlands once being one of the most prosperous areas in the UK thanks to its thriving manufacturing base, decades of underinvestment has curtailed productivity, stifled economic growth and held back social mobility. That, coupled with the Leicestershire County Council area receiving the least central Government funding, stifles our development. But that would be to look to our past, and this debate is about the future.

Recently, the region has seen a resurgence of its economic potential, which accounted for 5.9% of UK GDP in 2019, thanks to growth in a number of new and innovative sectors, such as life sciences and hydrogen technology. The latter is of particular national importance, given the push towards green technology.

Alongside the groundbreaking research from our fantastic universities such as Loughborough University, companies such as Intelligent Energy, which is looking to build a new state-of-the-art gigafactory in the region as a centre of hydrogen fuel cell manufacturing in the UK, are leading the way in this area. Such a factory would not only create hundreds of local jobs but would help establish the UK and the east midlands as a world leader in hydrogen fuel cell technology.

The Energy Research Accelerator is also bringing together local research-intensive organisations and a research community of nearly 1,500 researchers to undertake innovative research, develop the next generation of energy leaders and demonstrate low-carbon technologies that will help shape the future of the UK’s energy landscape, but if we are to harness the true potential of those sectors, we must invest further in skills, infrastructure and research and development. The Government have already committed to their levelling-up agenda by directing significant investment towards the region and stimulating business growth, following an incredibly challenging year for businesses.

The freeport at East Midlands airport will not only act as a customs hub, boosting international trade, but will create a highly skilled ecosystem, becoming a magnet for inward investment and business expansion and acting as a springboard for opportunity throughout the region, creating tens of thousands of new skilled jobs. The gravitational pull of the freeport will bring jobs and growth from across the world to the only freeport based at an airport. That is great news for the east midlands.

We already have some excellent forward-looking businesses in the Loughborough constituency, such as Morningside Pharmaceuticals, ERGO, Jayplas and JRE Precision Engineering. Each one is a global player, groundbreaking and integral to the future of our region and our country. That is not to mention the life science cluster based at Charnwood Campus—the first life science opportunity zone in the country, with superb businesses already based there and capacity for more; companies are looking to come to the region, with labs and offices ready to go.

The £16.9 million town deal funding for Loughborough will also ensure that local residents have the skills needed to support local businesses. It will fund projects such as the Loughborough College digital skills hub, and the already thriving careers and enterprise hub. With match funding, those town deal projects are worth more than £40 million.

Loughborough College in itself is a driving force for training and skills, adapted and shaped by the jobs market in which it thrives. Last week, we held a jobs market in the centre of Loughborough that offered literally hundreds of jobs. Thorn Baker, for example, had 75 jobs available. The place is really beginning to thrive. That is in addition to the huge £7.8 million investment in Loughborough from the getting building fund, which not only helped to play a role in creating a global sports hub in the town but has gone towards highways infrastructure to improve accessibility to Loughborough and Shepshed at junction 23 of the M1.

The east midlands is transforming and creating an identity for itself as a leader in innovation and cutting-edge technology. It is time to capitalise on not only our geography but our skills. Inward investors are looking for a place where their business can succeed, for the skilled workforce needed to drive their business forward, and for a great place to live, in which case the future is bright for the whole of the east midlands, but it shines like an Olympic gold medal here in Loughborough.