Lord Heseltine review: business reaction This is a critical issue for our global competitiveness, and we are working actively with Lord Green on ways to better use Chambers of Commerce at home and across the world to provide British exporters with the best possible support to break into new markets. John Cridland, CBI Director-General: I welcome Lord Heseltine's review. It identifies a wide range of levers capable of promoting growth which the CBI has been calling for for some time, from education to infrastructure, and from planning to access to finance. It is a thoughtful contribution to the growth debate. His key point is that we need more local action and leadership, which must be right. To successfully rebalance the economy towards private sector growth, every part of Britain needs to grow - we mustn't just rely on the usual suspects of London and the South-East. Lord Heseltine's review highlights the need for powerful governance structures to support private sector growth throughout the UK. The CBI's recent report The UK's Growth Landscape set out what needs to change to ensure that the structures in place, such as Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), unlock the pockets of private sector potential which exist in all parts of the UK. Simon Walker, Director General of the Institute of Directors: We welcome the idea of encouraging more devolution to the local level, and ensuring business has the opportunity to make heard its priorities on local issues. IoD representatives and members are active in a large number of Local Enterprise Partnerships around the country, and they are keen to continue giving their time and advice on how to get the system working to support growth in the regions. Business leaders and the various business organisations have long experience of co-operating to encourage a positive business environment in the UK, and we are committed to continuing that work. Lord Heseltine's proposals on foreign investment into the UK are more worrying. The idea that we should be suspicious of people from around the world putting the money into our country is misguided. We should be looking at ways to encourage and invite investors to back British enterprise and infrastructure projects, not reverting to government-run public interest tests which make it more difficult for them to do so. TUC General Secretary Brendan Barber: By stressing the interdependence of public and private sectors, the review shows that the approach that delivered the London Olympics could create success stories across the country. We fully back greater investment in science and research, as well as smarter use of procurement to boost British industry, which are both long standing calls of the TUC. Boosting the powers and lending capacity of the British Business Bank will be welcomed by unions and credit-starved businesses, though it may find fewer friends in the Treasury. The TUC shares Lord Heseltine's vision of collaboration between the public and private sectors, with unions and employers working together to promote growth. But he will have his work cut out in convincing ministers of this new approach, who are going to have to change their attitude towards civil servants, public bodies and unions if they want this strategy to succeed. Terry Scuoler, chief executive of EEF, the manufacturers' organisation: This review is a welcome recognition that all parts of government need to get behind companies that are looking to grow to create the stronger economy we need. However, with such a wide-ranging review, the Government needs to consider its proposals carefully to ensure that they offer value for money and review how they would work in practice.