THE Prime Minister and the Chancellor of the Exchequer will today unveil a massive double jobs boost for the North-East.

David Cameron will lead the celebrations when the £82m Hitachi rail plant in Newton Aycliffe officially opens this morning - heralding the return of train building to the region.

At the same time, George Osborne will be in Sunderland where Nissan is to spend £100m preparing its record-breaking car plant for another new model.

The Northern Echo: THE FUTURE: An artist’s impression of Hitachi’s next generation high-speed passenger train

An artist's impression of an Hitachi train

The two announcements will create more than 700 new jobs and safeguards thousands more.

Hitachi has already received more than 14,000 job applications from people wanting to be part of the workforce that will build a new generation of high speed trains.

Mr Cameron said: “This massive investment from Hitachi shows confidence in the strength of Britain’s growing economy. This new train facility will not only provide good jobs for working people but will build the next generation of intercity trains, improving travel for commuters and families, as well as strengthening the infrastructure we need to help the UK grow.”

Although Nissan's investment will not create more jobs, officials said last night that its decision to build the next generation Juke in the North-East will help safeguard more than 34,000 jobs that rely on the plant.

Nissan's decision is a massive vote of confidence in its North-East workforce - the Sunderland factory faced strong internal competition for the new model from other sites in France which are part of the Renault-Nissan alliance.

Renault owns 43 per cent of Nissan. Fears grew when the Renault factory at Flins, near Paris, was awarded the forthcoming Micra replacement - a model once built in Sunderland.

However, Sunderland's untouchable productivity record made it the natural choice for a new Juke, which is one of Nissan's most popular vehicles.

The Northern Echo: Prime Minister David Cameron and Chancellor George Osborne visit the Royal Marines base in Poole on Friday August 1, 2014

David Cameron and George Osborne will be in the North-East today

Nissan's European chairman Paul Willcox said: “This announcement also gives security to our Sunderland plant beyond 2020, which the team has earned through many years of hard work and their ability to continually raise the bar on quality.”

Mr Osborne said the announcement was "fantastic news", adding: "Our ambitious plan to build the Northern Powerhouse means building on the area's strengths - including manufacturing - and this announcement is an important sign of Britain being chosen as a global leader in car production."

Unite union assistant general secretary Tony Burke said: "We warmly welcome the decision of Nissan to build the new Juke model in the UK, when it could have gone to one of Nissan's plants abroad.

"The decision demonstrates the confidence the industry has in a highly skilled and dedicated workforce across the UK automotive industry and is a tribute to the close working relationship between management and unions built up over the last decade.

"This news is another vote of confidence in the continuing renaissance of the British car industry."

Meanwhile, the northern economy could experience economic growth on a scale "not seen since the Victorian era of grand municipal development" if timely investment in the region takes place, a new report suggests.

Commitments to major transport infrastructure spending, strong leadership and a sense of urgency to progress devolution are the "key ingredients for turning northern powerhouse rhetoric into national economic prosperity", the research by think tank IPPR North concluded.

The analysis, entitled Rhetoric to Reality: A business agenda for the Northern Powerhouse, argues the potential exists for businesses in the North West, North East and Yorkshire and Humber to grow, boosting the economy through "properly directed investment".

It notes the economy of the three northern regions is worth £289bn - "twice the size of Scotland's, and bigger than all the devolved nations' economies combined", adding: "If it were a national economy, the north of England would rank as tenth largest in the EU."

It added: "The economies of the five biggest cities together grew by 38.8 per cent in the ten years to 2013 - more than the UK outside London (38.3 per cent). Their populations grew by over half a million (5.4 per cent) in the ten years to 2014, which is more than live in the city of Manchester."

It went on: "In the last year, the rate of job creation in areas such as North Eastern (4.8 per cent) and Leeds City Region (four per cent) was more than double the national rate of 1.9 per cent (which is matched by the North as a whole)."

The report argued a rebalanced economy can only be achieved through tackling "lagging" productivity, under-investment in transport infrastructure spending, poor connectivity between cities in the north and lower qualifications and skills levels.

It stated that the prospects for the northern powerhouse's long-term success "rest not on its political salience but on its potential to generate genuine economic prosperity for its businesses and citizens".

The report identified four key drivers of growth in the northern economy, including: infrastructure and connectivity, human capital, innovation and business support, plus leadership and policy development.

It argued: "The forthcoming spending review must make a step-change in commitment to the north of England, with large-scale government capital spending of up to £50 billion that can be used to leverage even greater private investment."

It added: "There is an urgent need (for) more detail and more action to support the pan-northern vision - 'one north, one economy' - to ensure that business, public and civil sectors are galvanised to act now to sustain the momentum behind devolution and take advantage of this unprecedented window of opportunity."

Ed Cox, director of IPPR North and co-author of the report, said: "The historical economic under-performance of the north of England is not natural, nor is it inevitable. We have seen past attempts at 'regional policy' fall by the wayside, but the northern powerhouse has momentum and has galvanised leaders in the North.

"But investment, leadership and urgency are the key ingredients for turning northern powerhouse rhetoric into national economic prosperity. The momentum is building, the benefits are great - the opportunity is there to be seized for northern prosperity to create national prosperity."