Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland Labour MP, Tom Blenkinsop, today warned that two reports issued yesterday ‘spelt continuing misery for the North East and Teesside’ as the economic downturn intensified.

Tom said “The highly influential Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has now warned that the UK and the eurozone could be entering a renewed recession, and has cut its global growth forecast. In the UK, the OECD predicted the economy would shrink in the fourth quarter by just 0.02% and by 0.14% in the first quarter of next year. This puts the massive spin operation mounted by Chancellor George Osborne, in advance of today’s Autumn statement into a proper perspective – spin, not substance.”

“The second report – from the Newcastle based think tank, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) North – says that the North East faces a dismal decade of unemployment as the North-South divide continues to grow. They have done their regional number crunching and have come to the conclusion that it may well be 2020 before employment figures in the region return to 1990 levels and many more years before they reach the levels recorded in 2008, when the number of people in employment peaked across the UK. In contrast, they say, the outlook for London and the South East is a rosy one, with employment levels in the City and the leafy suburbs expected to recover in a mere three years.”

“It is clearer by the day that George Osborne’s Plan A is failing the nation, and especially those parts fo the nation like Teesside that rely on manufacturing industry and industrial employment. A plan that keeps the City of London happy, whilst the rest of the nation outside the M25 are left in misery, is the last thing we need in today’s world. It is clear that fairness and targeted growth and investment are words that are not in Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne’s vocabulary.”

Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland Labour MP, Tom Blenkinsop, today warned that the much vaunted National Infrastructure Scheme launched by Chancellor George Osborne ‘was passing Teesside and the North East by’.

Tom said “with the exception of the announcement of some additional support for the Tyne and Wear Metro, there is little cheer for our region in this announcement. Indeed some parts of the announcement could actually further disadvantage us.”

“The announcement that the rail links between Leeds and Manchester will be electrified are little help to us. To get the full benefit, this programme should properly have been between Middlesbrough, York and Leeds allowing for train services from Teesside and Tyneside to get the full benefit. If this gap is allowed to remain, all it will do is mean that services from Teesside and the North East to Manchester and Manchester Airport will be further marginalised. The same is true of the roads programme. It seems the real cash here is for uprating – for example – the M25 and the M3 – meaning that the benefits will flow to the already wealthy south instead of to areas like ours which need better road links to the A19 and A1.”

“There are also local infrastructure schemes which could have been in the programme but aren’t.”
“There is an overwhelming case for backing the physical expansion of Teesport to make it both the main import and export ‘Container Hub’ for the North, and also to capitalise on the central position it has for the future development and servicing of offshore wind farms. But of this, not a mention. Also missing is any reference to the Tees Metro scheme for a rapid and efficient rail system which could allow for the development of a 21st century mass transit network for the whole of Teesside. Instead we see a proposal for expanding London’s tube.”

“Again, we see missed opportunities and a fixation with building for the economy of the South – and not for the North.”

Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland Labour MP, Tom Blenkinsop, today (November 1st 2011) blasted Government industry and treasury ministers for the way in which firms are being asked to wait for ‘an inordinate time’ to receive their successful bids under the Regional Growth Fund so as to allow for ‘due diligence’ and also for the fact that the costs of this process are borne by the firms – this reducing the value of their grants.

Tom said “I tackled the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander, about this on the floor of the House this afternoon, and was told by him that due diligence ‘takes on average 4-6 weeks’. How this can be squared with the fact that local and regional firms given grants in the first round last April are still waiting for the proverbial cheque in the post, I cannot comprehend.”

“Worse still is that whilst no-one would disagree with recipients of public monies being subject to due diligence, what is wrong is that this process appears to be netted by the Business Ministry from the actual grant. This is bonkers, allowing as it does, for these funds to be eaten away by expensive and probably overpaid lawyers. We have all seen cases of public expenditure where legal costs were almost as high as the actual project costs, and I fear that the same could happen here.”

“I feel strongly that the entire Regional Growth Fund structure and process should be looked at to make it fit for purpose – and there will soon be unemployed staff from the old Regional Development Agency who could well show how this could be done!”

Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland Labour MP, Tom Blenkinsop, today (31st October 2011) welcomed the news that Teesside firms were on the national list of companies benefiting from backing from the second round of the Government’s Regional Growth Fund, but warned ‘that red tape and box ticking’ by London based coalition politicians and civil servants could delay expansion plans.

Tom said “It is good that Teesside based firms like Able UK, Tioxide, Johnson Matthey, Darchem and PD Ports are on today’s list. These are firms at the cutting edge and are needed if we are to fight out of recession. It was good, too, to see that the Wilton based NEPIC – the process industry cluster for the region, and formed by the previous Regional Development Agency, ONEne, are also on the list.”

“But I am very worried that in the small print of today’s announcement is the glib civil service phrase that these are conditional approvals and ones subject to due diligence. This worries me in terms of how soon these offers can be converted into real cash, allowing projects to go ahead and for jobs to be created. Many regional companies made offers in the first round are still waiting six months on for the cheque in the post from Vince Cable’s London office, and if that is any guide, many of the firms on today’s list may still face a long wait.”

“I can only echo the comments made on the Today radio programme this morning by the North East Chamber of Commerce that all this was done more quicker and efficiently by the old Regional Development Agency – and which was a body based in the region and made up of regional interests. Today’s announcement has to be welcomed, but that mustn’t stop Labour looking to better alternatives for regional development.”