Greater Manchester Business Week – August 04, 2019

30 BusIness AUGUST 2019

Professionals

Strengthening the

civic ties that bind

two great cities

A

s the Lord Mayor of
the City of London,
Peter Estlin
maintains the “civic
element” of his job
within the capital’s
Square Mile is only a
small part of it.
In his role as the elected head of the
City of London Corporation, Estlin is a
global ambassador for the UK-based
financial and professional services
industry.
Speaking at a recent visit to
Manchester, he sad: “The big area is
very much promoting financial services
both domestically and internationally,
so that takes up 80-90% of the job,” he
explains, along with strengthening ties
between London and the regions.
“As an ambassador for financial
services more broadly, where two-
thirds of that capability sit outside
London, largely in Manchester, Leeds,
Edinburgh and the core cities, the
question is then how are we shining a
spotlight on the scale of innovation
here and attracting investment into
those markets.
“That, as well as encouraging
businesses including AccessPay and to
be saying, as you’re looking to expand,
we can help.”
Estlin’s visit to Manchester is part of
the City of London Corporation’s
regional strategy, which encourages
investment into UK regions, to build
awareness of the opportunities and
expertise London provides to UK based
firms and to export their products and
services globally.
The purpose of the visit is “multifold”,
he says.
“Firstly, it is to continue the
relationships with people like Andy
Burnham.
“Andy’s been down to Mansion
House, we had meetings back in
November...which looked at, as they’re
building out the local industrial
strategy, where London can help
support that strategy through
infrastructure financing, particularly at
supporting the scale of innovation.”
Raising visibility of how London can
help business in Manchester is also a

reason behind his visit. “It’s

demonstrating what can we offer and

shining a spotlight on the elite

programme, or encouraging people to

tap into the big growth fund, which is a

£2-3bn fund in the UK for scale ups.”

However, it’s “not just about

business”, he says.

“While business and economic

growth is important, it’s also about the

social aspects of that, whether it’s

looking at inclusion, financial inclusion

or digital inclusion, which are big

topics.

“About a year ago, Andy and I

launched the This Is Me in the north

west as a mental health programme for

businesses following our work with

Barclays in London about four years

ago and it’s really snowballed.”

Estlin maintains that it’s not just

London which is important to

Manchester, as the relationship

between the two cities is “symbiotic”.

He says: “To continue to be attractive

as a country and as a market place

internationally, we need to create scale.

“It’s a competitive world and

therefore having just a single capability

in London is attractive but it’s not as

attractive as having a string of pearls

around the UK where people would

wish to invest.

“What Manchester can do for

London is actually help to provide the

collateral to promote that and

encourage it.

“Part of how we help each other is to

recognise our individual strengths and

how those strengths contribute to the

greater good.”

Estlin is eight months into his

one-year role as Lord Mayor, which has

seen him strengthen ties between

Manchester and London and “not just

between Andy Burnham and myself

but actually at the operational level”.

But once his tenure is over, he

stresses that he is “part of a continuum”

that will enable to regional strategy to

continue.

He explains: “In some cases I’ll

commit to carrying on doing things

myself, albeit I won’t be Lord Mayor,

and in other cases it’s important that

the Lord Mayor carries on doing them,

in which case we pass that on.

“The regional strategy is a multi-year

strategy and we’re delivering each year

on that and seeking to build on it and

grow on it.”

For Estlin, the importance of building

connections between London and the

north extends to the UK’s rail networks,

as a supporter of HS2.

“As Manchester continues to build

out, as Leeds city region builds out,

these are important, significant clusters

not only to financial services but also to

the economy as a whole.

“It’s really important that we link

those up together and therefore that

investment and that infrastructure

needs to get delivered.

“We’re very supportive of it and also

building links across the Pennines,

connecting cities and other cities

together that are not just to London.”

Part of how we help

each other is recognise

our individual strengths

Lord Mayor of the City of

London, Peter Estlin

Peter Estlin