{"text":[[{"start":8.04,"text":"For successive UK governments, improving the fortunes of regions beyond London and the South East has been a laudable, if elusive, ambition. Too often, political leaders have proved more adept at producing slogans than generating growth. Theresa May’s industrial strategy championed “prosperous communities across the UK”. Boris Johnson backed “levelling up”. Now, Britain’s newish, hyperlocalist, prime minster, Andy Burnham, is promising “growth in every postcode”. Will he do better than his predecessors?"}],[{"start":40.84,"text":"Burnham’s mantra is perhaps less a literal goal than part of his broader strategy to appear inclusive, and reassure voters in left-behind areas that he wants to make a difference in their daily lives. It is good politics. This week, in his first major speech since being chosen as Burnham’s chancellor, John Healey doubled down, insisting it was “not a slogan, but a test”. If so, the government is setting itself up for failure."}],[{"start":68,"text":"Drivers of growth in services-led advanced economies like Britain’s are urban areas. In the UK, cities and large towns covering only 9 per cent of land generate 63 per cent of economic output, according to the Centre for Cities think-tank. Businesses tend to be most productive in dense clusters, where they can benefit from agglomerating skills, customers and suppliers. But there are many postcodes that are simply too residential or sparsely populated to be meaningful hubs for economic activity."}],[{"start":99.04,"text":"Attempts to drive growth everywhere risk spreading scarce economic and political resources too thinly. As the former mayor of Greater Manchester, Burnham should know this. The fast-growing city region has benefited from the regional authority’s focus on enabling private investment to densify its city centre. Though standards of living vary widely across the conurbation, analysts note that efforts to spread growth would most likely have resulted in lower wealth creation in aggregate."}],[{"start":127.76,"text":"Given the pressing need to jump-start the British economy, going for growth everywhere makes little sense. It is better first to target those areas with the greatest potential for what economists call economic multipliers, where initial investments generate disproportionately large returns. This includes Britain’s lagging second cities and the Oxford-Cambridge growth corridor, where innovative, university-led research needs lab space and transport links to grow. This approach would boost overall tax revenues, which can then help address economic weaknesses in other regions."}],[{"start":161.96,"text":"This does not mean Healey and Burnham should ignore other areas. Rather, they should focus on driving growth in existing urban and innovation clusters to act as engines for broader growth, and make it easier for people in all postcodes to access it."}],[{"start":176.68,"text":"Plans to deepen devolution and give public financial institutions more scope to crowd in private capital may help, but their success depends on competent local governance, which is not a given. Instead, there should be greater focus on removing hurdles that constrain business growth in high-potential regions, and the ability to build the infrastructure needed to connect people to them. Indeed, Manchester’s rise shows that while strong local public bodies help, it is ultimately the private sector that fills office towers with jobs, builds homes and lays transport networks at scale."}],[{"start":211.04,"text":"Here, Healey’s pledges to cut red tape are promising. But other impediments on companies — from high energy prices and skills shortages to post-Brexit trade barriers — need addressing too. The chancellor should be clearer on how he will manage tight public finances without resorting to higher taxes on wealth creators. If Healey and Burnham want to be remembered for actually catalysing meaningful growth around the country, “growth in every postcode” is better confined to a slogan rather than a target."}],[{"start":243.08,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1788928271_7956.mp3"}