Business News Round Up (12/06/25)
North West welcomes Spending Review with focus on transport and housing
The North West will benefit from a range of proposals in Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s first spending review. She outlined plans for comprehensive funding powers for areas which have the most impact on North West and UK citizens, including housing, transport, energy and healthcare. Among her pledges was £3.5bn of extra funding for the Transpennine Route upgrade, as part of a £15.6bn pot for regional transport systems. The Chancellor’s speech also included a vow to work closely with Northern Powerhouse Rail. An £11bn uplift in defence spending, including £600m for intelligence services, will affect multiple projects and communities, including the Government’s previously outlined support for Barrow-in-Furness, the site of BAE Systems’ important submarine building base. She also acknowledged calls from business for a deeper pool of talent for future growth and said that will be addressed by tackling innovation, which she described as “as great British strength”.
Chancellor unveils £52bn spending package for Scotland in new UK Government review
Chancellor Rachel Reeves has announced a sweeping £52 billion spending package for Scotland as part of the UK Government’s latest Spending Review, describing it as the largest real-terms funding settlement since devolution began. The multi-year plan will see Scotland receive an average £50.9 billion block grant annually over the next three years, with investment pledged for defence, advanced computing, and the development of carbon capture technologies. Overall, UK defence spending will increase to 2.6% of GDP by 2027, with a £4.5 billion boost for munitions production, including facilities in Glasgow. Reeves positioned this as part of a broader ambition to make the UK a “defence industrial superpower”.
Innovative UK-funded programme generates £140m in investment
A UK government-backed innovation programme has delivered a major boost to regional economies, generating more than £140m in new investment. The Innovation Accelerator pilot programme has also created up to 250 full-time equivalent jobs across the West Midlands, Greater Manchester and Glasgow City Region. The programme launched in April 2022 and has been funded by Innovate UK, working with UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT). Greater Manchester is using the Innovation Accelerator to advance its strengths in advanced materials and manufacturing, digital and tech, low carbon and health innovation, while placing a strong emphasis on social inclusion. The Centre for Digital Innovation project has offered skills development and community outreach to all 10 of the city-region’s boroughs and the Turing Innovation Catalyst is helping people from underrepresented groups develop a career in AI.
https://businesscloud.co.uk/news/innovate-uk-funded-programme-generates-140m-in-investment
Scotland put ‘at forefront’ of UK’s tech revolution with £750m national supercomputer coming to Edinburgh
Scotland will be ‘at the forefront’ of the UK’s tech revolution with an announcement that the £750 million national supercomputer will be hosted in Edinburgh. Chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed the investment last night as part of the UK Government’s spending review, which comes after a period of uncertainty for the University of Edinburgh’s advanced computing facility. The new supercomputer, which will be hosted at the university’s East Bush facility, will give scientists across the UK access to compute power on a ‘world-leading scale’. It places the University, the city of Edinburgh and wider region at the centre of a nation-wide effort to drive technological innovations and support industry using computing and AI. The decision will protect jobs, which may otherwise have been lost from Scotland, and provide further benefits and investment to the regional economy.