GEORGE Osborne’s Budget continues his policy of deficit reduction and seeking to stimulate private sector growth in the economy.

As part of his growth strategy, he has resurrected from the 1980s the idea of Enterprise Zones.

The case against these is pretty well known. The establishment of Enterprise Zones costs the taxpayer money in lost business rates. Projects that would have happened anyway move, or even relocate, into the enterprise zone to take advantage of the tax privilege. By offering tax relief in one area, the Government disadvantages neighbouring areas.

The owner of the land, if he’s lucky enough to get an Enterprise Zone, sees the development value of the land go up.

The landlords push the rents up, to claw back from their tenants some of the business rate concession. This enriches the landlord, but doesn’t create jobs.

However, I believe, with a bit of imagination, we could make this policy work for us. The Government is consulting on where the Enterprise Zones should be. This gives us a chance to make the case for a job-creating and economically sustainable industrial strategy for the North East. We should place the Enterprise Zones where they will underpin the creation of new sustainable jobs in growing industrial sectors.

We should consider bidding for an Enterprise Zone for Tyneside, embracing the technology park in Walker, the Swan Hunters yard and Hadrian’s Yard in North Tyneside and the sites owned by the Port of Tyne on both the North and South banks of the Tyne that have significant development potential. The Government should make it a condition of agreeing to this that the Conservative North Tyneside administration get rid of their scrap yard on the Swan Hunters site, which is creating 17 jobs and use the whole site for industrial development.

Enterprise Zone status for five years could be the boost the site needs to create thousands of jobs. Similarly, there is significant potential south of the river, and again, the Government should make it clear that the purpose of the zone is for industry and job creation.

From my time as Minister for the Region, I know that there are significant inward investors looking at our region, and at other parts of the United Kingdom as well. We could reshape the Enterprise Zone idea, so that it gives our industrial strategy a competitive advantage.

Imaginatively, we could make this work for us, and it could be just the boost we need. The new jobs would be sustainable and attractive to workers from all parts of Tyne and Wear and from North Durham and South Northumberland as well.

It would be great if we could all get behind an idea of this kind, and speak authoritatively to Government with one voice.