Government will "throw the kitchen sink" at reviving North East, senior minister says

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds made the promise to his home region at the North East Growth Summit

Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds says the Government will “throw the kitchen sink” at reviving the North East economy and hinted that major investment news is coming to the region within days.

Speaking at the first North East Growth Summit in Sunderland - the city where he grew up - Mr Reynolds promised an “unequivocal Budget for growth” later this month, while he said there would also be good new for the region at the international investment summit the Government is holding in London next week.

My Reynolds’ comments came after he had earlier joined with Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner in the North East to launch the Government’s New Deal for Working People. The initiative to extend workers’ rights and tackle insecure employment has worried some business groups, but Mr Reynolds said that ensuring working people benefitted more from the UK economy was an essential part of the Government’s plans.

Speaking to an audience of business and political leaders, he said that the Government was determined to fix not just the UK’s economic underperformance but also the regional inequalities that have affected areas like the North East for decades.

He said: “The challenge that we face, this Government is going to throw the kitchen sink at it. We’re going to take some risks and, as the Prime Minister said at his party conference speech, we’re going to accept the trade-offs and be clear to the public about them.

“Sometimes people say to me that they get the case for economic growth in regions around the UK, but do people really care about it? I know people express it in a different way but if you ask people: do they think their children will be better off than they were. For many people they don’t think that’s going to happen and they’re not wrong in that when you look at the figures.

“So the challenges are significant. But I do want to say, without a shadow of doubt, that I am incredibly optimistic for the future and for our ability to come together and solve these problems.

“We have coming up our investment summit next week. We’ve got some of the most significant investors in the world coming to United Kingdom, we’re making a pledge to them and I think you will see some incredible and significant investments, including here in the North East.”

With the new Labour Government’s first Budget due on October 30, a respected economic think tank has suggested that Chancellor Rachel Reeves may need to raise up to £25bn from tax increases if she wants to keep spending rising with national income. The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said Ms Reeves would need to turn to tax rises to avoid spending cuts and meet her pledge to borrow only to invest.

Mr Reynolds said: “I’ve seen the IFS analysis today. Of course they are right to say that the economic inheritance for this Government was unenviable.

“But I have absolutely no hesitation in saying that the Budget in 20 days’ time will be an unequivocal Budget for growth. I think everyone recognises that what’s necessary alongside that is taking serious responsibility for the public finances, because if you don’t have that you don’t have the chance to do anything else.

“But the Chancellor and I and the whole of the Government could not be clearer in what we are going to put forward and what that will mean for every region of the United Kingdom.”

Earlier at the summit, North East mayor Kim McGuinness and Sunderland City Council leader Michael Mordey had spoken of the need to ensure that investment into the region improved living standards for people in all areas of the region.

Ms McGuinness said: “We can make massive inroads into the North-South divide over the next 10 years. But we can do that as part of a joint mission to close the divides that exist within the North East as well, and get the growth that sustains us for generations to come.”

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