UK Powerhouse Publishes Latest Results

A new economic report published today has revealed that Milton Keynes will be the fastest growing economy at the start of 2021, but that it must do more to improve its environmental credentials.

According to UK Powerhouse, a report by Irwin Mitchell and the Centre for Economic & Business Research (Cebr), Milton Keynes will be the fastest growing economy in Q1 2021 by GVA*  – the quarter when the transition period in the UK’s current EU Withdrawal agreement is set to have ended.

However in a league table looking at CO2 per person, Milton Keynes was in the bottom 10 with 5.2 kt CO2 per capita with a 2.9% year on year reduction. This compares with Bournemouth which comes out top with a figure of 3 kt CO2 per capita.

The report also analyses the share of environmentally friendly commuters and here Milton Keynes performs relatively poorly.

Milton Keynes is placed 25th for share of population using low emission** transport with 6% compared with Inner London at 34%.

It comes 35th out of the Powerhouse locations in terms of the share of zero emission*** transport with just 5%. Cambridge is top with 21%.

Out of all the English Powerhouse cities in the report, Milton Keynes is ranked 2nd for waste recycling.

Expert Opinion

“In the case of Milton Keynes, it performs very well in terms of economic growth but it is less impressive when it comes to environmental sustainability with only a 2.9% reduction in CO2 per capita.

“Earlier this year, the UK has announced its ambition to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050, the first major economy to do so. The ever-more urgent topic of climate change and sustainability has reached the highest level of government and it’s important that business recognise not only the important role they have to play, but also the opportunities that exist.”
Victoria Brackett - Group Chief Commercial Officer

Methodology Note

All forecasts in this report utilise Cebr’s central scenario. Cebr’s central forecasts are based on the assumption that an amended version of the Brexit withdrawal agreement will form the basis of the future UK – EU relationship. We further assume that a transitional arrangement will be put in place that allows a continuation of the current relationship without any major disruptions until at least 2021. On the immigration policy, we rely on the lower immigration population estimates assuming that a visa system will be implemented for EU nationals, but that the requirements (e.g. the minimum salary, the NHS surcharge payment, the application fees, etc.) would be more relaxed than they currently are for non-EU nationals requiring a visa.

*Gross value added
**Low emission transport include travels by bus/coach, national rail and underground
*** Zero emission transport includes travel by walking or cycling