£400m boost for small businesses across the North

14 Jul 2015 12:53 PM

In a visit to the north of England the Chancellor, George Osborne, announces new funding boost for the Northern Powerhouse.

Small business across the north of England could benefit from funds of over £400m thanks to a new wave of European funding, the Chancellor announced yesterday (13 July 2015).

Just days after delivering his Summer Budget, where he set out the next steps in building the Northern Powerhouse, Mr Osborne visited a number of local businesses to discuss how the government is delivering for the whole of the north.

While there, he announced that government is working with Local Enterprise Partnerships and local authorities to secure fresh funding for small businesses in the north from EU Regional Funds, which would be made available for northern SMEs later this year. The new funding would come on top of £382.5m already being invested in the region through an existing similar scheme.

The plans would form the next round of JEREMIE (Joint European Resources for Micro to Medium Enterprises) funding for the Northern Powerhouse. The funding provides equity and loan finance to start-ups, growing early stage companies and larger companies with ambitions for strong growth.

There are three existing JEREMIE projects covering the North East, North West and Yorkshire and Northern Lincolnshire.

Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne said:

Small business are the lifeblood of the Northern Powerhouse and this funding has the potential to make an enormous difference to hundreds ofSMEs right across the north.

From supporting thousands of northern companies through increasing the Annual Investment Allowance and giving businesses an extra £1,000 with an increase in the Employment Allowance, my Budget last week backed businesses across the north and this funding has the potential to do even more.