TORY grandee Lord Heseltine has said he believes the North-East is through the worst of the recession and also accused opponents of the Government’s controversial work experience scheme of a “classic left-wing attack”.

The former Deputy Prime Minister tackled a number of subjects in an interview with The Northern Echo ahead of an appearance today at the North-East Economic Forum, being held at the Hilton Hotel, in Gateshead.

Lord Heseltine was asked if he had a message for North-East business leaders in respect of how the economy was performing.

He said: “My guess is that we are through the worst of the recession.

“It has been very tough, but we are beginning to see a number of indicators pointing to an upturn later in the year.

“There has been no choice but to go through this difficult period.”

The 78-year-old, a former secretary of state for trade and industry, who made millions through the magazine publishing company Haymarket, also defended the Government’s work experience scheme, which aims to help unemployed young people into work, but has been denounced as slave labour by some critics.

He said: “I am totally in support of it and I want to see more firms taking part.

“This is a classic left-wing attack of the sort that those sort of people always parade when anyone takes an initiative of this sort.

“It is absolutely defensible that people at a young age who are dependent on taxpayers’ support should be expected to make some contribution as a result of that.”

Lord Heseltine also championed directly-elected mayors, which he claimed could drive “wealth creating opportunities” and said the the Regional Growth Fund, of which he is chairman, was creating a very significant number of exciting jobs in the private sector and was soliciting more bids.

Other speakers at the Forum include Liberal Democrat Communities Minister Andrew Stunnell, who will say that the North-East could be a world leader in green technologies.

Mr Stunnell will also accuse Labour of having failed the North-East by replacing its over-dependence on heavy industry by overdependence on the public sector.

Meanwhile, Scottish Government Cabinet Secretary Fiona Hyslop, another speaker, is expected to give reassurances over the impact of a potentially independent Scotland, saying it will lessen the economic dominance of the South-East and serve to “shift the balance of power fulcrum to the regions”.