LABOUR vowed to go further and faster than the Conservatives in devolving power and money to the region, as it launched its ‘business manifesto’.

The Opposition confirmed plans to transfer £30bn of Whitehall funding over five years to city and county regions, to spend on transport, housing, skills and business and employment support.

And Ed Miliband pledged that combined authorities will retain 100 per cent of additional business rates raised, instead of half the money flowing to the Treasury for redistribution.

The pledges come after talks between North-East councils and George Osborne on further devolution stalled over his demand for a cross-boundary ‘metro mayor’.

Labour’s ‘business manifesto’ also outlined plans to:

* Cut and then freeze business rates for 1.5m small firms – funded by scrapping Tory plans to cut corporation tax further.

* Set up a network of regional banks with “a core purpose to support small business growth in their area”.

* Ban “exploitative” zero-hours contracts – but without defining exploitation – and set a five- year target to raise the minimum wage.

* Offer tax rebates to firms that become pay their staff the ‘living wage’, in the first year of a Labour Government.

* Require every firm getting a large Government contract, and large firms recruiting skilled workers from outside the EU, to offer apprenticeships.

* Offer an ‘apprenticeship guarantee’ to all 18-year-olds who “get the grades”.

* Require young people to study English and maths to 18 and introduce a vocational “technical baccalaureate” for 16-18 year olds.

The package was largely welcomed by the North-East Chamber of Commerce (NECC) for its focus on “long-term investment, access to finance, infrastructure and skills funding”.

Mark Stephenson, the NECC’s policy and research manager, said: “They are all crucial if the North-East is to realise its undoubted potential, alongside the party’s focus on supporting small business."

But the organisation did raise concerns over “elements of the tax and regulatory plans that could limit investment and entrepreneurialism”.

Mr Stephenson added: “Suggested low carbon targets seem arbitrary, considering others have yet to be met. We must reduce emissions sensibly.

“Labour must also explain how and when it will reform UK EU membership, which is of vital importance to our businesses.”

In his speech, Mr Miliband sought to reassure business leaders that he recognised their need for “stability and certainty”, as well as change.

He said: “You need to know that we won’t be a government that kicks over the traces for the sake of it. Rip everything up and start again.

“So, for example, we’ll improve local enterprise partnerships rather than instigating another disruptive top-down reorganisation.”