THE Prime Minister has welcomed an extension of The Northern Echo's Working For A Future campaign, aimed at helping the region recover from the manufacturing crisis.

It is more than a year since the paper launched the campaign following the loss of 950 jobs at Spennymoor's Black and Decker factory.

Today, we extend the campaign to include Learning and Skills Councils' (LSCs) quest to plug the skills gap in the region.

Since October last year, we have campaigned for more aid for the region and to support areas hard-hit by the crisis in manufacturing.

Now the North-East has to find new ways of encouraging people to continue learning, to bring down the number of those lacking in basic skills, and drive up the number of business start-ups.

Through Working for a Future, The Northern Echo, LSCs in Tees Valley and Durham, and regional development agency One NorthEast hope to see more people in the region getting the skills they need, which in turn will provide a brighter outlook for the region as a whole. Our aims are:

* To bring down the high percentage of North-Easterners lacking in basic maths and English from 28 per cent to at least the national average of 24 per cent;

* To keep bright students of all ages in the region to increase its prosperity and encourage 85 per cent of 16-year-olds to continue into full-time education or training;

* To drive up the rates of business start-ups and encourage entrepreneurs to stop our North-East workforce relying too heavily on big employers;

* To ensure everyone has access to the education they need locally.

Last night, Tony Blair said: "This campaign is designed to breathe new life into the North-East economy.

"I welcome the fact that The Northern Echo is working hand-in-hand with Learning and Skills Councils in Durham and Tees Valley to make the region's workforce even more skilled and promote the region as a centre for thriving new business."

One NorthEast chief executive Alan Clarke said: "These issues are critical to the future well-being of our North-East.

"We must create the conditions in which our brightest business talent can flourish and have the skilled employees within the North-East to fill the increasingly high-tech jobs that the employers of tomorrow will create."