David Cameron sets out vision for a new North East
David Cameron outlines his vision of the future for the North East economy to an audience of workers at Greggs Bakery in Tyneside.
In days of yore Prime Ministerial visits to the North East would often be accompanied by acts of largesse.
An announcement of new public sector jobs here, a government grant there.
But there was none of that when David Cameron came to the region.
He didn't really come with anything new to offer.
He talked again about the Regional Growth Fund, national insurance breaks, and corporation tax cuts.
But there was nothing gimmicky.
Instead if there was a message, it was this: the Government will help you, but only if you also help yourselves.
Perhaps that's not surprising in an age of austerity.
David Cameron has precious little in the way of money to offer given the current state of the Government's coffers.
But it also represents the kind of philosphical shift his government wants to pursue.
You get a good indication from his choice of venues.
First there was Newcastle's .
He toured there to discover the latest developments in genetics and bioscience, but also to find out how they might be used to generate new businesses and jobs.
Then he moved on to the HQ of bakery giants - a home-grown North East success story.
And in front of an audience of staff, he made his vision clear.
The Government wasn't there to create jobs, but to make it easier for businesses create them.
Politicians effectively need to step out of the way.
So the North East needs more businesses like Greggs. Starting small, but becoming big.
Low taxes, and cuts to red tape then are the answer, not government ministers picking winners.
But of course, the Government can harm as well as help.
Labour critics were keen to point to .
Funding shortages at the regional development agency One North East, have led it to cut investment in plans to develop a former brewery site as a science park.
County Durham is also still waiting to find out if the Government will confirm the investment in new trains needed to persuade Hitachi to open a factory employing 800 people. (The PM promised an announcement yet again within weeks).
And of course public sector cuts will also hit the private sector.
A recent Durham University study estimated that the cuts will lead to 50,000 job losses in the North East in the next five years.
And 20,000 of those will actually be in the private sector, as around £1.8bn of growth will be taken out of the economy.
The Government insists it had no choice but to cut that public sector investment, and that the alternative of getting deeper into debt would be far worse.
Labour again disagree. Maybe we'll have a better idea of who's right the next time the Prime Minister comes to the region.
* The Politics Show will be discussing the state of the region's economy and gauge the grounds for optimism at 12pm this Sunday on ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳1.
I'm Richard Moss, the ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳'s Political Editor for the North East and Cumbria. Welcome to my irreverent - but hopefully insightful - northern take on reporting politics for Look North and the Politics Show.
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