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Labour?s "One Nation" to help the North

Labour’s Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Rachel Reeves has set out what Labour’s vision of a “One Nation” economy will mean for the North.

Delivering a speech to IPPR North event in Leeds, the Labour MP for Leeds West, said the One Nation plan would allow the North to punch its economic weight.

Speaking to Bdaily ahead of her speech, the Shadow Chief Secretary, said: “Since 2010, the economy has been flatlining but it is the Northern regions that have been particularly hard hit. In the last 5 quarters we’ve only had one quarter where the economy has actually grown, and that was down to the Olympic bounce.”

“The current Government have offered the North no policy to help growth and movement away from the recession. In fact, the policies the Government has been pursuing have actively hit the Northern economy, which has been reliant on public sector.”

Ms Reeves said Labour would put Northern communities in the driving seat of their own economic development, and would devolve resources and decision-making powers.

She continued: “The cuts to regional development agencies (RDA) particularly hurt the North. RDAs such as One North East and Yorkshire Forward were doing a really impressive job in bringing investment and jobs and growth to the regions, but the Local Enterprise Partnerships don’t have the resources or the scale to do this work.”

Together with cuts to public services and the cuts to local government budgets, she said these were the three key components holding the North back, and called for a coherent industrial strategy.

“We’re not going to have a UK economy growing, and emerging from this recession unless there is policy designed to help the Northern regions,” she added.

“A British investment bank would work for every region, to help small businesses that aren’t getting the support from the banking and financial system, and also to help infrastructure investment - particularly in sectors such as renewable energy and high-tech manufacturing which are strong in the North.”

Ms Reeves also said Labour would like to extend the City Deal model to become a broader “English Deal” that would benefit more communities.

The Leeds MP also said there must be more options for young people to pursue vocational education, and criticised the Education Secretary Michael Gove for talking exclusively about traditional academic routes.

Labour have proposed a temporary cut in VAT, and a national insurance holiday for small firms who take on new workers.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .