Forty-eight p.c of individuals in England and Wales reside in cities – almost half the inhabitants – and it’s clear to me that the UK won’t succeed except its cities succeed. However for too lengthy we have now reached for a cities-first playbook – as if cities exist to serve the economies of close by cities reasonably than to drive their very own.
The info tells the story plainly. Over the past ten years, employment in cities grew by 10.7%. In cities, 5.4%. A stark distinction. And other people residing in locations like Stafford need to reside with the results of that – watching funding land close by however not attain them, watching younger folks transfer away believing alternative lies some place else, and watching their excessive streets shrink and decline.
The difficulty is after all, multifaceted. However I imagine some small however essential modifications could possibly be enormous engines of development for our cities, and due to this fact the financial system of our nation.
The info exhibits that sure sectors usually tend to make use of folks in cities than cities – manufacturing is a robust instance, which employs 9% of all staff in cities, greater than double the 4% who work in manufacturing in cities. Investing in our producers is due to this fact an excellent technique to put money into our cities, making a virtuous cycle of enterprise development, job creation, and spending within the native financial system.
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However for too lengthy, our authorities procurement framework hasn’t been doing sufficient to reward corporations which can be already manufacturing in Britain. Public procurement is a vastly highly effective instrument, with the federal government spending £434 billion in 2024/25 throughout the UK. How this cash is spent impacts our companies, our workforce, the environment, and our communities. It impacts how we construct properties, whether or not we meet web zero, how wholesome our communities are, and whether or not our native companies succeed.
These components kind the social worth of a contract – the advantages past pure supply of a services or products. Whereas after all worth and high quality stay key components, given at the moment’s fragile provide chains and elevated world competitors, the significance of Social Worth goes up.
The historic social worth weighting hasn’t been adequate to tip choices within the favour of UK manufacturing. Companies in my constituency have felt this firsthand – and I’ve been pushing the Authorities to vary it.
It’s clear from approaches taken within the US, European Union, and elsewhere that there’s an urge for food for domestic-focused procurement. Germany exhibits sturdy choice for home suppliers, significantly for vital belongings and upkeep reliability, which is crucially essential in instances of elevated world uncertainty.
The European Fee has lately proposed the Industrial Accelerator Act to extend the share of EU services in public procurements – a big change to its present authorized framework for funding. The act goals to extend manufacturing to twenty% of the EU’s GDP by 2035.
This development is exhibiting how procurement is changing into a key precedence for financial development and resilience, and issues aren’t any totally different within the UK.
The federal government’s procurement reform, introduced in March 2026, marks the largest overhaul in a technology and one I imagine is a wonderful transfer for the UK. It is going to imply that bids that ship actual neighborhood help, native jobs, expertise, and apprenticeships will likely be rewarded. And it exhibits this authorities is dedicated to purchasing British, constructing British and backing British.
The reforms deal with 4 key sectors: metal, shipbuilding, power infrastructure, and AI – these which can be key to our nationwide safety. Importantly, they embrace a brand new definition of Social Worth to place native communities on the coronary heart of procurement choices, in addition to requiring authorities departments to publish and yearly assess the social worth supply of contracts over £5m.
However I feel there may be extra we will do. We might have a look at growing the UK content material weighting: the place authorities cash is spent it ought to help home manufacturing and expert jobs wherever doable. For the companies in my constituency, like Perkins making engines, GE Vernova making transformers, or Bostik making adhesives, this might make an actual distinction.
Exterior of procurement reform, the federal government has recognised that our producers require actual help too, asserting £120 million of funding into ceramics manufacturing, £350 million to help the chemical substances sector in addition to laws that brings the choice to nationalise British Metal. Supporting British manufacturing in additional industries, significantly ones like ceramics and metal the place power costs are having an actual influence, will assist us meet our targets as a rustic, whereas supporting British employment in our cities.
The federal government has made a superb begin, however till companies in my constituency have a good shot at their tenders, one which considers their native influence and UK manufacturing correctly, I’ll maintain pushing. When companies are already backing Britain, we must always completely be backing them. And when 48% of individuals in England and Wales reside in cities, we ought to be creating coverage that displays that – not simply reaching for the age-old cities-first playbook we’ve been counting on for therefore lengthy.
