He may be editing a London newspaper but the former chancellor still has his eye on developing the ‘northern powerhouse’ that he championed in government. Here, we give a glimpse of tomorrow’s interview, in which George Osborne talks infrastructure, skills and Brexit with Building
Osborne on Brexit:
“The risk is twofold… the first is you get delayed investment and new projects don’t go ahead because people are uncertain about arrangements with Europe and its future. Second, there’s a challenge of access to the necessary labour. The construction industry has a long tradition of using talented people from across Europe”
Osborne on trade links:
“The Germans trade a lot more with China than we do and they’re in the EU”
Osborne on the “northern powerhouse”:
“This is not just a commitment to the north of England, it’s a very specific economic idea to bring the cities of the North more closely together, to make the whole bigger than its parts”
Osborne on devolution:
“There are a lot of things happening in the northern powerhouse that don’t really depend on the government. I think if the northern powerhouse solely depended on any one government, or any one chancellor, then it’s not going to work as a long-term idea”
Osborne on investment:
“We need government in investment in transport links. We set in train plans for the Trans-Pennine rail links being much better… we now need the government to commit to those fast, cross-the-North train links and the opportunity to do that comes this autumn with the Budget”
Read Building’s full interview with George Osborne in print and online from Friday
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