A NEW and improved regional development agency would be established to boost growth if Labour is elected in 2015, its deputy leader said.
The pledge from Harriet Harman came as she accused the Government of failing to have an “active industrial policy” to help the region’s economy.
The coalition has caused controversy for its decision to axe existing regional development agencies (RDAs) like One North East. It has insisted new local enterprise partnerships (LEPs) – bringing local business and council leaders together – will do a better job of boosting growth.
Speaking ahead of the party’s annual conference, Ms Harman said: “I think that it’s about jobs. It is about the economy.
“It’s about the massive concern that people have got about their living standards, about the prospects for their kids. It has now become absolutely clear in the last year that the mask has definitely slipped from David Cameron – that what he has done with educational maintenance allowance, with child tax credit, with abolishing the regional development agency, really hitting councils and councils are very important for regeneration.”
She added: “I think it means an even bigger responsibility on the shoulders of our very good leaders in local government like Nick Forbes who will be a shield for people in Newcastle against the worst of the Government.”
Attacking the Government’s regional growth strategy, Ms Harman said: “We saw a bit of a renaissance, despite all the problems, of the North East with Labour in Government really driving that forward. But it looks like the Tories are really determined to set the clock back where there was a divided Britain.
“And when you look at the Cabinet, a Cabinet full of millionaires, you don’t get any sense that they have got either a glimmer of understanding or of concern of hard-pressed communities in the North.”
The Government’s structure replacing RDAs was a weak “fragmented” substitute, claimed the deputy Labour leader.
Asked about restoring RDAs, said: “We would definitely bring them back.
“And if we are talking about 2015 when the election will be, no doubt we will have thought of ways of making them even better and be able to do even more than they were able to do before.”
Mr Harman said Labour would also develop the North East’s green industries.
She said: “It needs an active industrial strategy.
“And the truth is that George Osborne has shown that he believes the economy is simply about cutting the deficit, tax cuts for the richest. And they don’t see as we do that Government needs to be a force for progress and helping people in their lives.”
