Sinéad McLaughlin says Jeremy Hunt's new £80m local government and university investment zone should be in Derry

In his Spring Budget 2023 on Wednesday Jeremy Hunt announced that at least one new investment zone in the North will be able to avail of £80 million to ‘catalyse new innovation clusters’ in ‘a bold and imaginative partnership between local government and a university’.

The SDLP Jobs and Economy spokesperson said: “If the British Government is serious about creating investment zones in Northern Ireland, then there is no doubt in my mind that the first priority for one such zone should be the North West, with Derry as its capital.

“It will take deliberate and intentional policies to start to address the impact of decades of chronic neglect and under-investment suffered by Derry and the wider region and an investment zone would contribute to that work.”

The initiative was included in Mr. Hunt’s Spring Budget 2023 which he outlined in the British House of Commons on Wednesday.

He committed to delivering 12 new Investment Zones describing them as ‘12 potential Canary Wharfs’.

"There will...be at least one in each of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

“To be chosen, each area must identify a location where they can offer a bold and imaginative partnership between local government and a university or research institute in a way that catalyses new innovation clusters.

“If the application is successful, they will have access to £80 million of support for a range of interventions including skills, infrastructure, tax reliefs and business rates retention,” he stated.

Mr. Hunt’s Spring Budget 2023 document claims that the investment zones will be delivered in support of the British Government’s stated aim of ‘levelling up by attracting new private sector investment’.

"The government is launching the refocused Investment Zones programme to catalyse 12 high-potential knowledge-intensive growth clusters across the UK, including 4 across Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.

"Each cluster will drive the growth of at least one of our key future sectors - green industries, digital technologies, life sciences, creative industries and advanced manufacturing – bringing investment into areas which have underperformed economically,” it states.

Jeremy Hunt allocates £130m extra for the North due to increased spending in Britain

In England, the new zones will have access to interventions worth £80 million over five years while ‘local government and research institutions will be able to tailor their Investment Zone plan to their local circumstances’.

The intention is that this will be replicated in the North.

“The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) is working closely with the devolved administrations to establish how

Investment Zones in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will be delivered.

"The final design choices and agreement on an Investment Zone in Northern Ireland will be subject to the restoration of the Northern Ireland Executive,” the budget statement states.

The £80m will come in the form of various interventions including ‘tax reliefs and grant funding’.

The Foyle MLA said: “An investment zone for our region is really a no-brainer and I will be writing to the British Chancellor and Secretary of State for Northern Ireland to express this view and lobby for investment in our city and region.”

Jeremy Hunt announces £3m to tackle paramilitarism and £40m for greater participation at third level