FREEPORT FRUSTRATION
Bid group expresses ‘bitter disappointment’ as Chancellor scuppers North East hopes of free trade zone and plans to create 60,000 new jobs ... and Newcastle misses out on 750 Treasury jobs too in Budget
POLITICIANS HIT OUT AS INVESTMENT HEADS FOR TEESSIDE
MOVING hundreds of Treasury jobs to Darlington and giving Teesside freeport status “will do nothing to help struggling families in Newcastle”, the city’s Labour leader has warned.
Nick Forbes has slammed Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s Budget as “spin and a sticking plaster for a gaping wound”, with the two major announcements for the North East on Wednesday lunchtime both focused on the Tees Valley.
North of Tyne mayor Jamie Driscoll added there was nothing in the Budget for Tyneside or Northumberland and that “it looks a lot like they’ve cancelled levelling up”.
Newcastle had been among the leading candidates for the new Treasury North campus, which will move 750 Civil Service jobs out of London, but lost out to Darlington.
And a freeport bid that covered the ports of Tyne, Blyth, and Sunderland, plus Newcastle Airport and the Nissan factory, failed to become one of eight locations in England that will be given the status, while Teesside was successful.
Coun Forbes, leader of Newcastle City Council, welcomed the Chancellor’s extension of the furlough scheme and the £20-a-week increase in Universal Credit to September – but was scathing in his criticism of the rest of the Government’s plans.
He said: “While Government talks about levelling up there was no plan to address the growing inequality in our country.
“Coronavirus has cost councils over £12.6bn in 2020-21 alone – that’s £60m to the city council and yet we have only received half of the money we are owed – so much for the Chancellor doing whatever it takes.
“There was still no plan to address the social care crisis, with councils instead being left with no choice but to increase council tax and the adult social care precept to pay for it – placing a greater burden on struggling families.
“Newcastle has lost £305m since 2010 – that’s £2,270 per household. Moving Treasury jobs to Darlington and turning Teesside into a freeport will do nothing to help struggling families in Newcastle or reduce the devastating effects of the pandemic.
“This budget was an opportunity to transform our economy with green jobs of the future but instead the Chancellor gave us spin and a sticking plaster for a gaping wound.
“We needed a fresh start, but this budget was another lost opportunity.”
Mr Driscoll, elected as the Labour mayor of the North of Tyne region in 2019, also backed the furlough extension and restart grants for hospitality and leisure, but questioned why it had taken so long to offer help to the self-employed.
He added: “Every second paragraph talks about ‘levelling up.’ But there has been nothing to level up Tyneside or Northumberland. We saw today the ‘Inverse Care Law’ of politics – the more a government talks about something, the less it actually does.
“Last summer the Government asked us to develop an economic recovery plan. It was a real collaboration from local government, local businesses, our universities and combined authorities. It would have created 55,000 jobs. We submitted it as part of the Comprehensive Spending Review in the Autumn. They cancelled that. They said it would inform the budget, but they’ve ignored it again.
“I have to ask: why doesn’t he want to create 55,000 jobs in the North East? The payroll taxes alone would pay for it in just a few years. It looks a lot like they’ve cancelled levelling up.”
Mr Houchen claimed that future generations would hail today’s Budget as “the day Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool was reborn as an industrial powerhouse”.
Backers of the North East freeport bid talked of “bitter disappointment” over yesterday’s announcement.
A statement from the North East freeport bid said: “After four years developing the bid, we are naturally disappointed by this decision. It was a once in a generation opportunity to transform the lives of millions of people.
“Our vision for North East England Freeport was extremely ambitious.
“We are immensely proud of what we have achieved and the collaboration shown points to a very bright future.
“Our region’s leaders came forward to demonstrate their public support for the bid and heads of over 40 organisations signed a personal letter to Rishi Sunak outlining why it was so vital.
“The North East England Freeport would have delivered over 60,000 more and better jobs and helped to deliver a multi-billion pound boost to the North East’s industries.
“It would have secured new opportunities for local communities that have experienced severe economic scarring and been especially badly affected by Covid-19.”
Lucy Winskell, chair of the North East LEP, said: “It is with bitter disappointment that we learnt today that our bid for a North East England freeport was unsuccessful and that Newcastle would not become home to the Treasury as we had hoped.
“Our collaborative freeport bid was hugely innovative and universally supported – and critically would have enabled us to transform the lives of millions of people in a region hardest hit by Covid-19 and the EU exit.
“Our focus is now on understanding what levels of investment that government is prepared to make in the North East so we can achieve our joint ambitions of creating more and better jobs, levelling up, and further unlocking our industrial potential to allow us to play our part in contributing to UK plc.”
The North East England Chamber of Commerce gave a cautious welcome to the Budget but highlighted how the more notherly parts of the region had missed out.
Jonathan Walker, the Chamber’s director of policy, said: “It is really positive that our region will have a freeport.
“We now look forward to seeing the detail on how it will be delivered to add genuine economic value.
“However, other parts of the North East will be feeling like they missed out on investment and we urge Government to reconsider the value and opportunities of a second freeport and other major projects in the north of our region.
“There is good news today, make no mistake, but the journey to recovery and genuinely closing the economic gaps in our country is only just beginning.”
Sarah Longlands, director of the ippr North thinktank, said: “What we got doesn’t feel like a genuine attempt to ‘level up’ but a short-term package of measures to win votes ahead of elections in May”.