DAVID CAMERON'S first job after appointing his cabinet was to fly up to the region to launch his vision for the Northern Powerhouse.

David Cameron was in James Wharton’s Stockton South constituency to talk about putting employment, apprenticeships, welfare and childcare at the heart of the new Government.

The visit came just hours after the PM appointed Mr Wharton Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government with a mandate to devolve power to Northern cities to create jobs and growth.

He praised the hard work and dedication of Mr Wharton who was re-elected last Thursday when he stretched his majority from a little over 300 voted to more than 5,000.

Speaking to workers at the Tetley Tea factory in Eaglescliffe, the PM laid out the proposals to create two million jobs and helping working parents with childcare costs, during the forthcoming Queen’s Speech.

Explaining why he chose to launch the campaign in Stockton South he said: “I know that the last seven or eight years since the great economic crash have been difficult for people and we had to take difficult decisions as a government to get the economy back on track.

“The last Parliament was about repair and recovery and I want the next government to be about renewal, renewal of our United Kingdom, renewal of the sense that every part of the country should benefit from economic growth.

“So where better to come than Stockton where one of my predecessors, Harold MacMillan, was a great believer in building one nation where no-one was left behind, making sure every part of the country benefitted from economic growth, that is what I want in the Parliament and I thought Stockton was a good place to come and wonderful to come on the same day as giving the Stockton MP a much deserved job in government, standing up for the north of England and making sure we devolve power to northern cities so they can do even more to generate growth and jobs.”

Following a tour of the factory, Mr Cameron told workers the Conservatives were focusing on employment, childcare and welfare reform.

He said: "We need to have full employment and that means another two million jobs in this parliament and that's what I want to achieve."

Mr Cameron added that it was "absolutely essential" that parents received help with childcare. "One of the first things we're going to do is legislate to help with childcare," he said. "And that will be in the Queen's Speech in a few days time."

He said his party were going to continue to reform welfare. "I want a country where work pays and where it pays to work," he said.

Speaking about Benefits Street, which was filmed in Stockton, he said although he hadn’t seen Monday night’s episode, he had watched previous episodes and it showed that it is important to get people into work.

He said: “It demonstrates that we need to keep going and help people off benefits and into work which is what our welfare system should be all about. That’s why we have the work programme we got nearly one million people off benefits and into work in the last Parliament and we want to keep at it in this parliament.

“For people who can’t work we should always be there to help them and that is what our disability benefit and other benefits are there for, but where people can work and with training to get a job I think Benefit Street shows that is what we should be doing and that is what we are doing.”