Cold shoulder for shipyard
We have never detected from this Government a real interest in or understanding of manufacturing industry.
In this sense, the blunt manner in which Lord Bach, the defence procurement minister, told a defence industry conference in the region he could see no way to help the shipbuilding industry comes as no surprise.
Swan Hunter must sink or swim on its own terms while it waits on civil servants to make their minds up on major contracts in the pipeline. No aid and no discussion.
We have to remind ourselves that this is the position of a Labour minister, and a member of a Government which contains a very senior cabinet minister who once fought to save Sunderland's shipbuilding industry.
Kevin Rowan of the TUC describes Lord Bach as "shortsighted". We trust he will find stronger words to confront the minister with should they meet behind closed doors.
The thousands of union members within the Tyne's shipbuilding industry have received very little change out of the subs they paid to help Labour get elected in the first place.
Some may inquire why shipbuilding should feel entitled to special treatment by politicians.
But this must be the case simply because the defence procurement process is so tied up with the political process that if it is not seen as a special case then jobs will inevitably whither on the vine and vital skills be lost forever.
Swan Hunter is holding out for news on the Navy's new supercarriers that would carry it - and thousands of men - through into the next decade. A promise of a smaller bridging contract would be enough to keep the yard ticking over.
With no news of either and no bridging aid the yard could simply go bust waiting. If that is the case - perhaps even if not - then do not be surprised should the new flagships of our fleet end up being built in France instead.
Shipbuilding matters because the industry helps sustain a wide range of related engineering skills within the industrial community.
We have already suffered grievously from the decline of these skills since the early 80s. This has left the region less economically diverse and less attractive to inward investment.
The men who work the yards are ageing fast and valiant attempts to bring younger apprentices through to replace them - led by both unions and employers - have suffered because the Government has offered very little support.
It is a scandal that while the Prime Minister pledges to push half the population through questionable university degrees it will not fund apprenticeships at full value for recruits to industry over the age of 18.
As Lord Bach turns a cold shoulder to Swan Hunter we also report today on the extension of Newcastle's Eldon Square shopping centre.
This will create a significant number of jobs in the region and is to be warmly welcomed. One of the success stories of the North economy in recent years has been the move away from traditional industry and a bigger, brighter Eldon Square will help Newcastle compete as a "destination" city.
But that does not mean we should neglect traditional industries that could - with long term, structured, public support - survive and grow.
We wait and see exactly how many permanent and truly new jobs are created at Eldon Square.
We suspect that during the building work it is the guest houses of Whitley Bay which will feel the benefit as skilled workers are imported from Eastern Europe.
And that is a sad reflection on the way we have let our skills base decline.
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