Levelling Up All Parts of the United Kingdom

First announced as part of the Spending Review, some of the key projects that the Infrastructure Bank will help to finance include:

• Clean energy
• Digital
• Transport
• Waste
• Water

Comments from the Chancellor of the Exchequer made it clear that ‘levelling up the north and south divide’, and creating new opportunities, was an important part of the agenda.

The new bank creates opportunities for investing billions of pounds in different infrastructure projects. It means extra support is available for people, businesses, and communities across the whole of the United Kingdom.

So, why Leeds?

The UK Infrastructure Bank (UKIB) will be able to issue £10 billion of government guarantees on top of the initial deployment of £12 billion.

In simple terms, the government intends to unlock funding for infrastructure to help support regional economic growth with an overall investment over £40 billion.

The projects involve special partnerships with local governments and with certain elements of the private sector (e.g. major transport companies).

As a result, the undertakings of specific infrastructure plans offer invaluable business financing tools from 17th of June 2021, including:

• Debt (£7 billion)
• Equity (£5 billion)
• Guarantees (£10 billion)

Note: Another section contains additional information about how banks and banking services work in the United Kingdom.

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Leeds Becomes a Financial Hub

The Chancellor marked the opening by visiting the new office situated in one of the major cities in the northern English county of Yorkshire – Leeds.

It was an ideal venue to meet senior leadership figures and host a roundtable with leaders who are prominent in local infrastructure and business.

They went on to express how significant the benefits will be for the new bank as Leeds sets out its position as an established financial hub.

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UKIB Addresses Climate Change and Transport

The bank should accelerate ambitions for tackling climate change and be able to create new opportunities across all four corners of the United Kingdom.

The chair of Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership added – “Not only will having the institution based in Leeds be a real catalyst for change, it will also be a major driver of the post-pandemic recovery”.

Note: HM Treasury and the UK Infrastructure Bank plan on increasing the lending over a period of time. Doing so will allow local authorities to borrow money towards the end of summer.

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