Mayors are helping UK regions attract investment, says Minister

Lord Johnson, who is a keynote speaker at UKREiif, said the regional mayors had become one of the most important elements in terms of generating successful investment.

He told The Yorkshire Post that mayors had helped created a sense of place and purpose.

He added: "When a big investor flies in from Hong Kong, rather than meeting five different agencies and six different local councils, they meet one person, who says, "We want you to invest; this is the grand plan.’

"It's worked really well. My complete commitment is to support the mayors of every party and make a success of their region. It's been a great initiative. Long may it continue to flourish.

He added "I spent 30 years in investment management, and I came to Leeds and Harrogate a lot. There's a great deal of wealth here.

"You have a plethora of businesses here who are major contributors to the UK economy and there's a huge amount of innovation."

He added: "What I've been really excited about as investment minister is the interest in university spin-outs. Trying to find international capital to support spin out ventures has an enormous power because you create IP (intellectual property) which is very valuable for the economy.

"Universities then become this springboard for the regions and localities.”

"The key to investment is investability; reducing friction and hurdles... There's a huge burgeoning sector for clean energy and the sustainable energy revolution, tech and life sciences all of which are attracting a lot of money."

He said there had been a resurgence of British regional capital, adding: "When I was in my teens it was all about the South East. I saw the decline of many of these great cities.

"Whereas if you go back 150 years, London was an administrative capital. Money and the wealth of the United Kingdom was in Leeds and Manchester, Newcastle and Liverpool. You went to London just because it was where the Government was. That's coming back again.

"I really feel it and that is so exciting. The UK property market is still the pre-eminent property market in the world in my view. We want the UK to become the most investable country in the world.

"We want people to invest in our new infrastructure in our new energy revolution and in these burgeoning cities around our great nation."

Lord Johnson, who is also a former vice-chairman of the Conservative Party, spent more than 25 years in financial services, beginning his career at Robert Fleming in 1995, before moving to Hong Kong to work for Jardine Fleming and then in 2002, heading the marketing for Lloyd George Asset Management, an emerging markets specialist firm.

In 2007 he co-founded Somerset Capital Management LLP as an employee-owned democratic partnership, focusing on pension fund management in developing countries.

He was appointed Minister of State in the Department for Business and Trade in February 2023.