MPs have called on the Government to throw their support behind a ground breaking Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) project that could create jobs and cut industrial pollution on Teesside.

Earlier this year a plan was unveiled to secure funding for a CCS network to be built in the region. The group, that consists of leading chemicals firms such as Lotte, GrowHow, Sembcorp and BOC, aims to cut a quarter of Teesside's annual CO2 emissions from 2024 and become a global leader in the technology.

Labour's Tom Blenkinsop and Anna Turley have sent a joint letter to the Chancellor George Osborne ahead of next Wednesday's Autumn Statement.

They are asking him for to reassess the level of support and funding available to Teesside Collective's project following the devastating loss of steel jobs and planned cuts at Boulby Potash mine.

Mr Blenkinsop, MP for East Cleveland, said: "So far, the Government has invested £1m into this project; that is a pittance when compared to other governments. For example, in Canada, government’s there have invested over $600m in a CCS project by Royal Dutch Shell.

"There is a real risk that the UK will be left behind on this technology and the government urgently needs to step up the funding being provided to the project on Teesside and that will attract private investment that will lead to more jobs for local people."

In Parliament yesterday, Andy McDonald, Labour MP for Middlesbrough, asked the Prime Minister: "Against the backdrop of a tidal wave of local job losses, the Teesside Collective for industrial carbon capture has the very real potential to secure a major step change in our industrial renaissance.

"Ahead of the Paris (United Nations climate change) conference, will the Prime Minister meet me and the industrial leaders driving this project so that we can secure these immense climate change gains with the UK leading this new industrial revolution, and make this initiative a reality for Teesside and the UK?"

David Cameron, replied: "I know how important it is that we all work on behalf of Teesside, not least because of the difficulties there have been in Redcar. That is why we have the taskforce and why the additional resources are going in."

Mr Cameron agreed to meet the Tees MPs alongside Amber Rudd, Energy and Climate Change Secretary ahead of the Paris talks that start on November 30.