Northern Powerhouse proposals represent the biggest growth opportunity for the North of England since the Victorian era, the IPPR North think-tank has said, but must be backed with investments in the upcoming Spending Review. Its analysis found the economy of these three Northern regions was already worth £289bn, which is bigger than all the devolved nations’ economies combined. However, if they were able to halve the gap between their economic output per head and the UK average, then their combined output would be £34bn (11.9%) bigger.