Jürgen Maier: the Anglo-Austrian invested in rebuilding northern England’s economy

theguardian.com:

J ürgen Maier is bouncing as he opens the door of his home in south Manchester. After retiring as chief executive of Siemens UK three years ago, the industrialist has been hard at work in his office overlooking the garden of his detached Edwardian home. With Britain’s economy close to recession, a cost of living crisis, global heating, a green transition, Brexit and deep regional divisions, there are plenty of problems he wants to fix.

Having moved the Siemens UK headquarters to Manchester in one of his final acts before retiring, and become vice-chair of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, Maier is one of the leading voices pushing to level up the UK’s lopsided regional economy.

“We are in the deepest series of crises any of us in our professional careers have ever experienced,” he says. “Yet, at the same time, we find ourselves with the worst possible relationship between business and government. It really is that bad.”

Rather than tax cuts or a bonfire of regulation in next week’s budget, he says, Rishi Sunak’s government ought to wake up and recognise that this isn’t the way to run a 21st-century economy. Rather than a “1980s playbook”, it should be working for closer ties between business and government, better relations with unions, and a clear industrial strategy.

He admits our conversation is “a bit of a whingeing session”, but there is a purpose to it. Since leaving Siemens after 33 years, Maier has started vocL, an app-based business mentoring and speaking platform. Siemens, John Lewis, Sainsbury’s, Timpsons, Arup and Brompton Bikes are all on board, keen to foster the next generation of bosses willing to speak out on big political issues.

“We think the future will be a different political landscape,” he says.