On Thursday June 11th, Downtown in Business Leeds hosted an exclusive Leaders Lunch event at Gaucho Leeds, featuring Tom Riordan, Chief Executive of Leeds City Council. A select group of professionals from Leeds and beyond convened to hear Tom reflect on the recent general election, his time in the role and the challenges facing, and prospects of the Leeds City region.
Tom Riordan’s keynote address offered attendees a snapshot into the transformative journey of the Leeds City region under his leadership. With his extensive experience in government, academia, and public service, Tom has overseen significant changes in the region over the past 14 years.
The event commenced with Tom reflecting on the results of the recent general election and the difficulties at a local level in organising such a massive undertaking. There are seven constituencies in Leeds and Tom and his team had just a single day to book over 360 polling stations!
Tom feels that with Labour’s victory we may have an equivalent of the ninety-seven government and be entering a more stable era for British politics.
“The basic change is going to be you’ll go from a period with lots of different Prime Ministers and Policies etc and a government that wants to use any extra money for tax cuts to a government that wants to use any extra money for public spending.”
He believes the labour government already seems to have more of a focus on getting the work done rather than rhetoric and speculated that since they still have some room for tax rises, they might begin to get some of ‘those with the broader shoulders’ to contribute more.
Tom also took the opportunity to pay tribute to Rachel Reeves and her recent appointment as Chancellor, he believes that ‘Rachel and treasury make a perfect match,’ and shared how he was incredibly proud to see her elected as the first-ever female chancellor,
“She is skilled at keeping markets where they need to be and has sound economics.”
Considering some of the new junior ministerial appointments, Tom feels Peter Hendy is a great appointment for transport. He also pointed out that Leeds needs transport investment after the time money and energy wasted on HS2, commending the fact that they have got an improved bus and tram route coming.
Tom believes the Metro Mayors from different regions being consulted by Kier Starmer and given more powers is a positive thing and that mayors will become much more significant in the next decade.
Tom is passionate about raising awareness of the important work of local politics giving Leeds as a prime example.
“The reason Leeds has done well is we’re predictable, we have a plan, and we execute it” Leeds is a very self-starting and business orientated city the council has never pretended to be the wealth creators, but we can create the environment for wealth.”
The new Labour government wants to work with both the private and public sector and Tom believes since these sectors are both skilled at different things, it’s about mutual respect and working together. He explained that Leeds City council genuinely believe in that partnership, austerity has consequences, there are parts of the private and public sector that are severely lacking in funding.
“Whoever replaces me I can guarantee that’s the first thing they’re asking for” he commented when thinking about his retiring from the role of Chief Executive before the year is out.
Tom made it clear however, that while he’s retiring from the role, he’s certainly not retiring and still has many plans and ambitions for his future career, “I’m probably naïve to think I can do it but I really want to change the culture of the national public service” he explained.
Reflecting on his time in the role, Tom explained how he feels he has been ‘The voice behind business in the council’ and that if you can win over politicians and get them to see that businesses are the main ingredient in creating thriving communities you can start to make real change.
Thinking about the future of development in Leeds and the changing role of the council he explained, “The reason people oppose development is usually good reason like lack of infrastructure”, he believes that giving more devolved power to Combined Authorities would be a positive move as they could begin to look at infrastructure needs. He feels the CAs are the key institutions driving growth in the region and need to be given the tools to do this.
There was however an interesting point raised in the subsequent question and answer session that it’s not so much the infrastructure that’s lacking but the skills going in at a graduate level.
“It’s about teaching life skills to the kids coming out of schools and colleges” Tom agreed, suggesting that a lot of the time, the way certain areas, particularly digital literacy and tech are taught is very out of date.
Drawing from his diverse background, including roles promoting government engagement and leadership positions in regional development agencies, Tom offered some unique perspectives on how the new government and local government representatives might navigate the challenges of a rapidly changing country.
Over a fantastic stake lunch courtesy of Gaucho, networking opportunities further enriched the event, allowing attendees to connect other influential figures in the Leeds business community and beyond. There were some fantastic discussions sparked on the role of businesses and individuals in shaping the region’s future.
Reflecting on the event, Downtown in Business Director Chris Mckenna thanked Tom Riordan for his contributions to the event, highlighting the importance of his insights in helping businesses understand what might be in store under this new governmental era saying,
“We’d like to thank Tom for his empowering insights today. We know our members were certainly inspired hearing his optimism for the future and it was fascinating to hear his analysis of how the new Labour government might go about things slightly differently, what changes might be in store at a local level and of course what challenges and opportunities might be ahead for the Leeds City region and for his successor.”
For more information about Downtown in Business or details of upcoming events contact beth.mckenna@downtowninbusiness.com.
