Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said the North East has “so much to offer” as she visited the region on Tuesday (February 14).
The Labour MP also slammed the government for a continued catalogue of waste as she visited an NHS PPE factory in Northumberland on Tuesday morning.
Speaking to The Northern Echo the Shadow Chancellor said the North East has “so much to offer”, adding that only Labour has a plan to bring good local jobs to the region.
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Ms Reeves said: “The North East has so much to offer and there are big opportunities, not just in green industries but in life sciences, cultural industries, and more.
“Our green prosperity plan is about good local jobs, paying decent wages in parts of the country like the North East which has a proud industrial heritage and can be an important part of the future of British manufacturing as well as net zero.
“Under this Tory government you got the promise of British Volt but now it’s gone under – I really hope it can be rescued but we shouldn’t have to rely on foreign takeovers to make sure we have a vibrant electric vehicle and battery production industry in the UK.
“We’ve made a commitment to having a national wealth fund to invest alongside businesses in the industries of the future but then taxpayers get a return on that investment.”
She was speaking during a visit to the Northumbria Healthcare Manufacturing and Innovation Hub in Seaton Delaval, Northumberland, which produces items including PPE that are co-designed with the NHS.
The Shadow Chancellor added: “We’re seeing here today jobs being brought back from China in the production of PPE for hospitals here. That’s really exciting because we saw in the pandemic we were over reliant on China for the production of things like PPE.
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“It’s the same during the energy crisis - we’re over reliant on countries like Russia and the Middle East for our energy needs. We need to be much more resilient and secure as a nation.”
The visit came after a reports earlier this week of a firm winning a £25.8m PPE contract from the Government after new Tory Chairman Greg Hands was approached by a Conservative activist. A Labour dossier of waste on government procurement cards was also released this week, detailing thousands of purchases made on taxpayer-funded debit cards, including almost £4,000 spent on 13 pieces of fine art.
New figures released on Tuesday also found real-terms wages had fallen by 2.5% in the three months to December last year.
Asked about the cost of living Reeves added: “The government seem to be acting like the cost-of-living crisis is going away – it’s not. In April people are going to be paying an extra £500 on average for their gas and electricity bills.
“Cost of living is the most important issue for most people at the moment and the numbers that came out today show the numbers just aren’t adding up.
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“Labour is offering to freeze your bills; the Tories are going to increase them by £500. Labour are promising fiscal and financial responsibility; this government has a Tory mortgage penalty which means mortgages are going up by £1,400.
“When it comes to the NHS, Labour is committed to get rid of the non-dom tax status and use every penny of that money, around £3bn, to have one of the biggest ever expansions of the workforce in its history.
“The Conservatives are on the wrong side of these arguments every time. They stand for the non-doms not for the nurses. They stand for the energy companies rather than your average bill payer.”
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