Healey announces £150m fund for northern firms
Chancellor John Healey will launch a new initiative to support fast-growing businesses in the North of England.
AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made
The Chancellor will unveil a new £150million fund for fast-growing firms in the North
Photograph: Daily Mirror (embedded from source)
What this story says
- Chancellor John Healey will launch a new £150 million fund for fast-growing businesses in the North of England.
- The fund will be financed from the British Business Bank's existing budget.
- Healey stated the initiative aims to support university spin-outs and other ambitious companies.
- The announcement is part of a broader government strategy to stimulate economic growth across the UK.
Who covered it
Percentages are shares of the 10 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 2 of the 12 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .
Trust
42/100
Craft
61/100
Hype
20/100
12 sources · methodology
Thin on the right so far
Only 1 of the 10 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated right.
This story is still being watched, so it is a count and not yet a finding. Coverage keeps arriving for hours after an event, and a side that has published nothing this morning may publish by tonight. If it is still true when we stop checking, we will say so plainly.
Chancellor John Healey is to launch a new £150 million fund dedicated to supporting fast-growing companies in the North of England. This initiative is part of a wider government plan to generate and distribute economic growth more broadly across the United Kingdom. The fund will draw its resources from the British Business Bank's current budget. Healey intends for the money to be used to back university spin-outs and other ambitious businesses.
In a speech, Healey is expected to articulate that economic expansion is key to helping Britain navigate global uncertainty. He aims to present an optimistic outlook for the country, highlighting its potential for resilience and growth. The Chancellor also indicated that an "active state" is necessary to remove obstacles and create conditions conducive to increased investment. This approach is intended to support businesses and drive productivity.
Coverage disagreements
The Daily Mirror reported that the fund is part of a plan to address a "cost of business crisis" alongside a "cost of living crisis". It also mentioned that No10 North is working with the Treasury to remove obstacles for local leaders and businesses. The Evening Standard, The Independent, The Independent (US), and Irish News digests stated that the Chancellor will set out how an 'active state' will seek to boost investment across Britain. City AM reported that Healey stated the initiative is "not sentimentality, it’s supply side economics" and that he will provide backing to "city regions with real power, supported by a stronger state, creating local industrial strategies and using public investment to unlock private investment, to support our innovation economy, and to create the new jobs their areas need."
What the coverage left out
None of the left, centre, or unrated reports printed below mention the government's plan to slash outdated corporate reporting rules, which the Daily Mirror stated would save businesses more than £450 million a year. No right-rated outlet ran this story.
Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 5 times, most recently on 7 Sept 2026, 06:00, and will add the sides that appear.
How other outlets pictured it
Which photograph to run is each newsroom’s own choice. The leaning beside a name is that outlet’s published rating, not a claim that the pictures divide along it. Every picture is shown from the outlet’s own server and links to the article it ran in.
How each side covered it
Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.
Left
5 rated outlets
- Left-rated reports from the Daily Mirror, perspectivemedia.com, Irish News, The Independent, and The Independent (US) highlighted the launch of the £150 million fund for northern firms. The Daily Mirror's full report quoted Chancellor John Healey vowing the 'next chapter of Britain’s growth story will be written in more places across the country' and mentioned the fund is expected to support university spinouts and ambitious businesses. It also noted the announcement is part of a wider plan to generate economic growth and spread it more widely. The digests from perspectivemedia.com, Irish News, The Independent, and The Independent (US) focused on the Chancellor setting out how an 'active state' will seek to boost investment across Britain.
Centre
4 rated outlets
- Centre-rated reports from City AM, BBC News, and the Evening Standard focused on Chancellor John Healey launching the £150 million fund for northern firms as part of a plan to drive economic growth. City AM's full report quoted Healey saying the initiative is "not sentimentality, it’s supply side economics" and that he will provide backing to "city regions with real power, supported by a stronger state, creating local industrial strategies and using public investment to unlock private investment, to support our innovation economy, and to create the new jobs their areas need." The BBC News and Evening Standard digests noted the Chancellor will set out how an 'active state' will seek to boost investment across Britain.
Right
1 rated outlet
We have not written our reading of the right coverage of this story. The right-rated outlets that ran it are listed below.
Questions about this coverage
- How did the left and right cover Healey announces £150m fund for northern firms?
- Of the 10 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 50% are rated left, 40% are rated centre, 10% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 12. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
- Is Healey announces £150m fund for northern firms left or right?
- Too few of the outlets on this story carry a published leaning rating to say. 10 of them do, and this site does not characterise a field under 12: at that size one newsroom filing moves the share by ten points. The percentages above are the count as it stands.
- Is the coverage of Healey announces £150m fund for northern firms biased?
- Healey announces £150m fund for northern firms is one event reported by 12 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
- Which side is not reporting Healey announces £150m fund for northern firms?
- When we first saw this story, outlets rated right had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
- Which outlets covered Healey announces £150m fund for northern firms?
- 12 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
- How much is the new fund for northern firms?
- Chancellor John Healey will unveil a new fund of £150 million specifically for fast-growing firms located in the North of England. This initiative is designed to stimulate economic growth and support ambitious businesses within the region.
- Where will the money for the fund come from?
- The £150 million designated for the new fund will be sourced from the British Business Bank's existing budget. This means the funding will be reallocated from current resources rather than being entirely new government expenditure.
- What types of businesses will the fund support?
- The fund is intended to support ambitious businesses, with a particular focus on university spin-outs. These are companies that are formed based on academic research originating from universities.
Read it at the source
12 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.
Left
5- John Healey unveils £150m fund for northern firms in push for growth (opens perspectivemedia.com in a new tab)
perspectivemedia.com — is perspectivemedia.com biased? Our profile of this outletOpinion
- Healey vows 'next chapter of Britain's growth story' with new £150m North fund (opens Daily Mirror in a new tab)
Daily Mirror — is Daily Mirror biased? Our profile of this outlet
- John Healey unveils £150m fund for northern firms in push for growth (opens The Independent (US) in a new tab)
The Independent (US) — is The Independent (US) biased? Our profile of this outlet
- John Healey unveils £150m fund for northern firms in push for growth (opens The Independent in a new tab)
The Independent — is The Independent biased? Our profile of this outlet
- John Healey unveils £150m fund for northern firms in push for growth (opens Irish News in a new tab)
Irish News — is Irish News biased? Our profile of this outlet
Centre
4- Chancellor to unveil growth plan with £150m fund for northern firms (opens INTELLINEWS in a new tab)
INTELLINEWS — is INTELLINEWS biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Chancellor John Healey to unveil growth plan with £150m fund for northern firms (opens BBC News in a new tab)
- John Healey unveils £150m fund for northern firms in push for growth (opens Evening Standard in a new tab)
Evening Standard — is Evening Standard biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Healey launches £150m northern scale-up fund (opens City AM in a new tab)
Right
1Not rated
2How did this read?
About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.
