Visiting Newcastle, the Economic Secretary will dispel the myth that leaving the EU would simply be a problem for the City of London and that the wider UK financial sector in places like Newcastle would not be affected.
She will highlight the importance for staying in the EU to a sector that plays an important role in North East’s thriving economy. The financial sector adds around £2 billion to the region’s economy every year. The industry supports around 53,000 jobs in the region, with 26,000 people working directly in financial services and another 27,000 working in associated professional services.
The Economic Secretary will use her visit to argue that the success of the North East’s financial sector could be put at risk by a vote to leave the EU.
Newcastle is at the heart of the North East’s financial services industry, accounting for around a quarter of all financial and associated professional services jobs in the region. It hosts Virgin Money, who employ around 2,000 people in the city, as well as major operations of firms such as AA insurance, Tesco Bank, Santander and, of course, the Newcastle Building Society. Another challenger bank, Atom Bank, is based in nearby Durham. Being a member of the EU has meant that the UK has full access to the single market- a market of over 500 million customers and an economy over five times bigger than the UK’s.
In financial services, access to the single market helped the UK sector to export over £22 billion of financial services to the EU in 2014. This is around 33% of the UK’s total financial and insurance and pensions services exports.
New Treasury analysis shows 285,000 jobs across the UK are linked to financial services exports to the EU. 100,000 financial services jobs are directly linked to these exports, and a further 185,000 jobs are linked to the indirect demand generated in the wider economy as a result of financial services exports to the EU.
Leaving the EU would put tens of thousands of these jobs at risk across the UK.
Around half the world’s largest financial firms have chosen to base their European headquarters in the UK. In 2014, the amount of investment in the UK’s financial services sector, by companies based across the world reached £280 billion – 17% of this was from the EU.
Across all sectors of the economy, almost three quarters of foreign direct investors said the UK’s access to the EU market was an important factor behind the attractiveness of the UK as a destination for investment.
Given the impact that a vote to leave will have on the economic outlook, something that is so crucial for start-up businesses, the Economic Secretary has chosen to visit True Potential.
True potential is one of the fastest growing FinTech firms in the UK. It employs over 230 people in the head office in Newcastle, which has increased by 26% since January 2016. True Potential also appeared in the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 EMEA for three years running and UK Technology Fast 50 for the past two years.
While in Newcastle Harriett Baldwin will also visit Virgin Money. Here, alongside Jayne-Anne Gadhia, the CEO of Virgin Money, she will give an all-staff address to Virgin Money employees on the benefits to financial services in the North East of remaining in the EU.
Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Harriett Baldwin said:
“The financial services industry in the North East makes an important contribution to the Northern Powerhouse. Today I am visiting True Potential and Virgin Money, two firms that make are going from strength to strength in Newcastle. They play an important role in the local economy and are part of a financial services industry that employs around 26,000 people with a further 27,000 in related professional services.
Voters in Newcastle and across the country faces a fundamental choice – whether to remain a member of a reformed EU, or to take a leap into the dark.
A vote to stay in Europe will protect jobs in the North East, promote economic growth and ensure that the regional financial services sector continues to grow.
Let’s make the right choice on the 23 June. Let’s stay in.”
