Ken Clarke say 95,000 manufacturing jobs lost under Labour

Mar 10 2010 by Adrian Pearson, The Journal

THE Conservatives have accused Labour of dealing a fatal blow to the North East’s manufacturing base.

A senior Tory has claimed 95,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost to the region since Labour came to power in 1997.

Shadow business secretary Ken Clarke said the figures, provided by the Office for National Statistics, showed how Labour had taken the region for granted for more than a decade.

His attack comes weeks after the Prime Minister announced the latest £100m wind turbine investment for companies based on the Tyne.

Over the last 12 months ministers have repeatedly hailed the North East’s manufacturing base and promised thousands of new jobs will eventually be creating in the renewable energy sector.

But at the same time highly-skilled jobs at offshore firm Wellstream and defence group BAE Systems have come under threat.

Mr Clarke said the figures showed how Labour had “devastated manufacturing in Britain”.

He added: “Gordon Brown once promised to revitalise the industry, but the figures show he failed. 95,000 jobs have gone and the sector has declined by a record level. This has been a tragedy for the North East, an area with a proud manufacturing tradition.