Treasury appoints first envoy to drive Northern growth
Tom Riordan will lead efforts to build an inter-city growth corridor across the North modelled on the Oxford–Cambridge Arc, as chancellor Rachel Reeves seeks to strengthen Labour’s economic offer to the region.
Riordan is a senior civil servant and spent 14 years as chief executive of Leeds City Council.
His role will be three days a week for an initial 15-month term and he will report jointly to the Treasury, the Department for Transport, and the Ministry of Housing, Communities, and Local Government.
The finance ministry said he would work across government departments and with metro Mayors to coordinate regional development.
Based at the Treasury’s Darlington campus, Riordan will hold the first civil service post of its kind and his initial brief will centre on shaping a northern transport strategy.
The move comes amid growing concern from northern leaders about Labour’s commitment to rebalancing the UK economy, following tension between regional Mayors and Whitehall.
In January, Reeves delivered a flagship economic speech that focused largely on projects in the South East, such as the Ox-Cam Arc linking Oxford, Cambridge and Milton Keynes, where ministers hope investment in rail, housing and science can capitalise on the area’s existing knowledge economy.
In response, mayors in the North West unveiled their own proposal for a ‘Northern Arc’, highlighting the potential of upgraded intercity rail links.
A formal decision on Northern Powerhouse Rail, a proposed line between Liverpool and Manchester, had also been expected in June’s spending review, but was postponed over the summer while the Treasury carried out further due diligence.
Regional leaders now hope the long-delayed commitment will be made before or during the Budget on November 26.
Riordan described his appointment as an exciting opportunity to work with local and national leaders on a “New plan for the north.
“It’s a genuine honour to become the government’s envoy for such an important growth corridor.
“So much of my career has been about championing the North, and trying to unlock the undoubted talent of its people and the great potential of its places.”
So he has been employed to develop something already in development but just named in more fancy way? Christ almighty, no wonder nothing gets done in this country.
By Verticality
HS3 please, and get on with it!
By Get on with it
Now put the money in,that they have pumped into Oxbridge. Fancy titles are no good if we are still using third rate infrastructure.
By Elephant
If the government put as much effort into actually doing stuff as it does creating yet more Quango’s that talk about doing stuff and re-draw plans we would be on HS6 and NPR2 by now…
By Ian Hart
I hope, unlike many other Treasury workers, he’s been given an explanation as to the differences between “cost” and “investment”
By Anonymous
The government is focused on delivery. There are plenty of plans on the table. Deliver them.
By Anonymous
Maybe civil servants should start giving people piggy backs to alleviate our transport issues – seem to be enough of them ‘championing the North (of England)’ to allocate at least one per household..
By Anonymous
Hail Caesar!
By WayFay
The usual meaningless nonsense. It takes 25 yrs on average to get any major infrastructure change like railways and motorways signed off by Whitehall. They ‘run’ the country regardless of Government. They are the reason the country is slowly being suffocated . Perhaps if we get them to review their own usefulness we might…oh hang on that’s another twenty five years …
By Sir Humphrey
This article says: “he will report jointly to the Treasury, the Department for Transport, and the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.” Have we gone back in time with DLUHC or was this written with AI?
By Anonymous
Not AI – but a case of human error. Apologies. The story has been fixed.
By Julia Hatmaker