The Chancellor of the Exchequer, Rishi Sunak, delivered his latest budget as well as setting out the medium-term spending plans of the government on 27 October.

At the heart of the challenge is setting out the policy objectives of the long-trialled levelling-up white paper and crucially deciding how to fund them, and to distribute the money.

Greater Manchester has produced its own levelling-up plan, building on previous strategies and seeking to support the recovery of the economy after Brexit and Covid, with a key narrative of building back better.

Has the Chancellor’s budget made this easier or harder, and how different does the GM economy look after the recent challenges? This seminar will seek to answer these questions and guide policymakers where to go from here.

Participants:

• Chris Fletcher, Director of Policy of Communications, Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce
• Christian Spence, Head of Economics Data & Analytics, Future Economies Research Centre , Manchester Metropolitan University
• Representative fro Greater Manchester Combined Authority
• Member business from Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce

Schedule:

• 16:45 Registration opens; refreshments available
• 17:15 Seminar begins with presentations until 18:00
• 18:00 Q&A with attendees
• 18:45 Seminar concludes; wine and refreshments available until 19:30

Future Economies Seminar Series in association with Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce

October 2021 sees the re-launch of the Future Economies Seminar Series, in association with Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, that brings together the latest academic research with the views and experience of business leaders, policymakers and wider civil society. The seminar series started in 2019 alongside the launch of the interdisciplinary Future Economies Centre for Research and Knowledge Exchange at Manchester Metropolitan University, whose remit is to better understand the challenges of future economies and to work, through its academics and engagement with strategic partners, to help business, the public sector and wider society respond to them.

The bringing together of this practice-focused and applied research centre with the UK’s largest Chamber of Commerce provides a monthly forum to support open conversation between leading academics, businesses and policymakers to drive innovation and collaboration on the principal challenges to sustainable and equitable economic growth in our communities.

The topics covered are broad but engage directly with contemporary policy challenges, including post-Covid recovery and post-Brexit growth, transport, decarbonisation and clean air, local government finance, investment and the levelling-up and devolution agendas, the future of industrial strategy and pensions provision, and many more.

The seminar series is designed to create a forum to support the university’s knowledge exchange programme, recognising that there are too few avenues for genuine interaction and mutual learning between academia, business and wider society.

These events will be held at Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, Elliot House, 151 Deansgate, Manchester M3 3WD, as well as live-streamed, on Wednesday evenings once a month, with ample opportunity for networking and refreshments before and after, and we look forward to seeing you there.

More information will be published shortly on our websites at www.mmu.ac.uk/future-economies and www.gmchamber.co.uk.