Unlocking private sector growth through clusters and investment zones 

Now more than ever, raising our ambitions on growth matters, it’s the route to higher living standards and greater resilience for households and businesses throughout the UK. Built on our shared belief in the UK’s potential, we need collaborative action between government, businesses, and people to tackle the issues holding our economy back, realise our ambitions for the future, and finally break from our cost of living and low-growth cycle. If we fail to act now – decisively and boldly – for growth, we’ll be missing the significance of both the threats and opportunities before us.  

In his recent Bloomberg speech, the Chancellor set out his thoughts on driving economic growth across the UK. His focus on enterprise, education, employment and everywhere aligns strongly with the CBI Thriving Regions and Nations vision.  

Supercharging regional growth: Clusters and Investment Zones are complementary but not interchangeable.

In conversations with CBI members over recent weeks and months, they have asked about the language used by the government in regard to this area of policy. We believe that the use of the words ‘clusters’ and ‘investment zones’ are not interchangeable and, as concepts, serve different purposes – although they can be used together and align with the right policy measures which can genuinely unlock private sector investment. At Spring Budget, the government should decide the balance with which it is pursuing these approaches and set out how local authorities, universities and business should engage. This should involve clarity and consistency on the language used to ensure business confidence and policy direction. 

As the government looks to develop its policy on either Clusters or Investment Zones at Spring Budget (and beyond), the CBI recommends that ministers focus on a set of essential design principles. We would want to see a strong role for business in co-designing this policy to ensure a focus