The current government, trounced in the local elections, has very little to shout about at present. This may help explain why it’s been so keen to shout loudly about the “historic trailblazer” agreement it signed back in March with North East council leaders to devolve powers to the region.
Levelling up minister Jacob Young said at the time that the devolution deal would “deliver transformational change across the North East.” He added: “Devolution is all about handing local communities the keys to their own future, with decisions taken by the people who know their areas best. Today the North East takes back control.”
In theory, it sounds excellent – particularly for a region that has plenty of raw talent and undiscovered gems in its tech sector, including biotech, but which is often drowned out by the noise from London.
The mentions of supporting already strong green tech and advanced manufacturing sectors, and creating a Green Superport across Blyth, Newcastle and Sunderland, as well as a health innovation neighbourhood in Newcastle, sound even better.
But in practice, there are several reasons to look sceptically at the government’s claims.
For one thing: it’s the government saying it. And while it obviously wants to crow about rare successes, the reality is that the government is always going to overstate the potential of decisions it makes.
We’re also watching the clock on this government – something that has become abundantly clear as opinion poll after opinion poll has been published, and last week’s local election counts rolled in.
It’s for that reason that those within the sector I’ve spoken to about the potential of a devolution deal supercharging tech growth are relatively non-plussed: they know it’s a deal with a dead duck government, and things can always change with a new broom in Downing Street.
Yet outside Westminster, there are other issues with the idea of a devolution deal suddenly leading to a resurgence for the North East’s startup sector. And the key issue is much closer to home.
Having power over spending is all well and good, but it does require someone in local government leadership within the region to be able to recognise the importance of tech – particularly at a high-growth stage – experience which truthfully, doesn’t exist. Having a loud, totemic champion shouting about the potential, and driving change in policy for tech within the region is integral to any chance of growth.
That’s not to say that there aren’t people doing great work in building a community and fostering a positive growth environment in the startup sector in the region. There are. But they’re speaking from within the tent (and are often heard only within it), rather than being well-known to, and listened to by, those who hold the purse strings.
There is a recent historic example that highlights how any devolution deal may fall into the gap between the hype and the reality. Regional development agency (RDA) One Northeast was meant to do much the same job that a regional champion would need to do, starting around the turn of the millennium.
And while one figure in the local tech scene points out that the RDA managed to establish a whole industry of companies bidding for the agency’s cash, whether it had a longer-lasting impact than that is definitely arguable.
Devolution is no bad thing. But the irony is that in order to fully succeed, some hand-holding is needed. While the North East punches above its weight in many ways, we’re also underpowered in plenty of other ways. Rather than “devo max”, what the North East’s tech sector needs is “devo medium” – or even “devo min”.
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