BBC star Steph McGovern to host Convention of the North in Rotherham

Steph, originally from Middlesbrough, is a respected and award-winning presenter and former Young Engineer for Britain.

She has reported on business and finance from around the world and is a mentor for young people in her native Teesside, regularly running workshops for schoolchildren around the North East.

The free event at Magna on September 13 is being organised by the Convention of the North and NP11, a group of all 11 Northern Local Enterprise Partnership chairs - including James Muir of Sheffield City Region - with support from Government.

It will bring together the North’s political, business, community and academic leaders, along with young people’s groups.

Steph McGovern said: “As a proud northerner I’m looking forward to hosting this event and hearing the proposals our northern leaders and the Government will bring to the table to ensure the North can stand on its own two feet and continue to prosper after Brexit.

“With thousands of fantastic businesses based here, the North is hugely important to the UK’s economy. This event is an important chance to attract much needed investment.”

The event will debate policy in workshops which will address skills and education, housing, transport, innovation, trade and investment, and clean growth.

Organisers say sessions throughout the day will be brought together into a ‘powerful, unified case to the new prime minister and Government for tangible investment in the Northern Powerhouse, putting it at the top of the economic agenda, so that it can fulfil its potentially transformational role in the future of the UK’.

Northern leaders speaking at the event will include Sheffield City Region Mayor Dan Jarvis, Chair of the NP11 and of the Leeds City Region Enterprise Partnership Roger Marsh OBE, Chair of Convention of the North Coun Nick Forbes, and Northern Powerhouse Minister, Rt Hon Jake Berry MP.

Dan Jarvis said: “I’m delighted that the Sheffield City Region is hosting this significant event, and I look forward to welcoming delegates to South Yorkshire on 13 September.

“Our country stands at a time of great change, which presents both challenges and opportunities. By working together across the North, maximising collaboration between the public and private sectors and bridging the political divide, we can make the North’s case on a national and international level, power our economy and narrow the inequality gap that persists within the UK.”

The Convention of the North was launched in Gateshead last year and attended by 300 delegates who talked about investment in transport, skills, the northern economy and devolution.

This year, organisers say, it will be much bigger and will feature influential bodies including the N8 partnership of northern universities, the People’s Powerhouse, Northern Power Women.