The North could thrive in the decades ahead. Its economy is significant on an international scale: it is larger than most EU economies, and those of the UK’s devolved nations combined; and it has vital assets and capabilities which have national importance and global reach. The North’s economic diversity is one of its great strengths. Assets, industrial clusters and the wider foundations of growth are varied and distributed across the region’s geography: the city regions, towns, airports, ports and rural areas all have a role to play in helping to underpin and galvanise future northern prosperity.