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Big gun rolls into town

Tory big-hitter Ken Clarke brought the pre-election turf war to the North East yesterday as he warned that the regional economy had lost ground on the South East during Labour’s reign.

The Shadow Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills spoke to bdaily during a visit to the Cobalt Business Park on Tyneside – an enterprise zone which started life during the last Tory leadership and has since been built up to support 10,000 jobs.

He said the North East businesses he had spoken to on his visit were concerned about how the national economy will be stabilised and the lack of available credit.

“The economy of the North East has been slipping further away from the rich London and the South East economies ever since Labour took power at the slightly accelerated rate. Good things are happening here but more has to happen,” he said.

Meanwhile, Labour yesterday mounted a fightback over criticism of its plans to put up national insurance by claiming Tory plans to curb the rise are based a fantasy written on the “back of an envelope”.

Labour said Tory plans were “not credible” and cited the support of three government efficiency experts to back their case.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .