Chancellor Rachel Reeves says Oxford-Cambridge corridor can be ‘Europe’s Silicon Valley’ as Sir Patrick Vallance given growth role
The “Oxford-Cambridge growth corridor” has “the potential to be Europe’s Silicon Valley”, Chancellor Rachel Reeves said in a speech on Wednesday (29 January).
She discussed the “huge economic potential” of the two cities and said science minister Sir Patrick Vallance has been appointed as the Oxford-Cambridge growth corridor champion.
In the major speech, Ms Reeves pledged to “fight” for “growth” and said that Britain “can do so much better”.
In her address in Oxfordshire, she touched on funding for East West Rail, which is due to connect the cities via new railway stations in Tempsford, Bedfordshire, and in Cambourne.
She said the cities are “two of the least affordable in the UK” and existing transport options mean that to travel between them “takes two-and-a-half hours by train” while “there is no way to commute directly from towns like Bedford and Milton Keynes to Cambridge by rail”.
“Oxford and Cambridge offer huge economic potential for our nation’s growth prospects,” she said.
“Just 66 miles apart, these cities are home to two of the best universities in the world, and the area is a hub for globally-renowned science and technology firms.
“This area has the potential to be Europe’s Silicon Valley.”
Ms Reeves, who visited the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge in November, added: “In other words, the demand is there but there are far too many supply side constraints on economic growth in the region.”
The Chancellor also touched on the Environment Agency having dropped its objections to the development of Waterbeach new town.
In December, South Cambridgeshire District Council announced that planning permission had been issued for up to 4,500 new homes at Waterbeach after the Environment Agency had withdrawn its opposition over water scarcity concerns.
As well as proposals to update transport in the region – including an upgrade to the A428 – there are also plans for nine new reservoirs after ministers reached agreement over billions in water company investment over the next five years.
Sir Patrick Vallance, who was seen regularly during the government’s Covid briefings in his then-role as the government’s chief scientific adviser, will make sure the government’s ambitions in the region are delivered, the Treasury said.
The Chancellor’s speech, centred on growth, also included support for the expansion of Heathrow Airport with a third runway – an issue which some Cabinet ministers have opposed in the past. She also endorsed expansion at Gatwick and Luton airports and reiterated the government’s support for the redevelopment of Manchester United’s Old Trafford.
Ms Reeves said that Britain has “fundamental strengths” but has been “held back”.
She described Britain as a country of “huge potential” but also said that “for too long, that potential has been held back”.
“Low growth is not our destiny. But growth will not come without a fight. Without a government that is on the side of working people. Willing to take the right decisions now to change our country’s course for the better.”
It comes as the Chancellor and Sir Keir Starmer suggested to business leaders that Cabinet colleagues have been ordered to ditch policies which could stand in the way of their efforts to grow the economy.
Sir Keir told business chiefs at a meeting in the City of London that he was “hard-wiring growth into all the decisions of the Cabinet” and that “what Rachel and I have done is to make it clear to each of our Cabinet colleagues that in each of their briefs, growth is the number one mission”.
Ministers will be expected to set out the growth credentials of new policies in order to get approval from their Cabinet colleagues, in a shake-up to the usual system to get “collective agreement” on substantive changes.
The Prime Minister has asked Cabinet Secretary Sir Chris Wormald to implement the changes.
The rules mean the economic impacts of proposals will be subjected to the same rigorous assessment that already applies to new public spending.
But Downing Street acknowledged the new requirement would not necessarily block all policies that harmed growth.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “The decision-making will continue to be for the Cabinet; we are not going to pre-empt government decision-making.
“The point is the growth impact, the growth credentials, must be presented – much like public spending implications must be presented – such that in reaching collective agreement it is very clear what the impact of those decisions will be on growth.”
Shadow chancellor Mel Stride has claimed that the “biggest barriers to growth” are Sir Keir, Ms Reeves and their financial plans.
Ahead of the speech on Wednesday, Mr Stride said: “Hastily cobbled together announcements of growth in the 2030s will do nothing to help the businesses cutting jobs right now because of Labour’s punishing jobs tax, the companies being crushed under their barrage of new regulations, or the farmers facing bankruptcy over the cruel family farm tax.”