Phone-provider Vodafone has issued a call for the British government to make investments to attract digital professionals to regional centers in Britain as a means of rebalancing the over-concentration of employment and business in London.
It calls for particular emphasis to be given to investment in the West Midlands, Greater Manchester and the Tees Valley.
It has advocated that centers such as Birmingham and Manchester utilize currently vacant public office buildings to host tech startups which would be all the more attracted by the reduced property cost. Additional recommendations include installing 5G and full-fiber infrastructure throughout the country to which homes and businesses can be easily connected.
Digital talent is essential to regional growth and development. Discover how 'brain gain' policies can help towns and cities across the UK to retain skilled people and build our tech workforce of the futurehttps://t.co/gN9hL1IyGR
— Vodafone UK Comms (@VodafoneUKComms) March 21, 2018
Vodafone calls for ‘brain gain’ to spark a digital revolution across the UK https://t.co/jt4N35YcgK pic.twitter.com/ZgNh4fIF1g
— Kunal Kakar (@KunalKakar) March 21, 2018
The authors also recommend that local municipal authorities be given the authority to remove requirements for planning permission for the installation of mobile phone infrastructure.
Calls for more government investment in and greater economic autonomy for regional England have steadily grown in recent times, with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn pledging to federalize the United Kingdom and local mayors in Manchester and Liverpool calling for the North of England to hold its first convention on autonomy in June 2018.
