A "GREEN industrial revolution" is at the heart of Labour's promises to regenerate the North-East with £13bn worth of investment.

Labour launched its manifesto for the region at an industrial site in Middlesbrough yesterday, the day after the Conservatives revealed their transport plans for the North-East while visiting the SubSea Innovation factory in Darlington.

North West Durham candidate Laura Pidcock, the party's shadow secretary for employment rights, and Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland candidate Lauren Dingsdale were both in Middlesbrough to discuss plans to create 80,000 "well paid green" jobs.

Ms Pidcock said people had told her the North-East had “been forgotten”.

She added: “People just talk about the north as if we’re one kind of homogeneous blob.

“The North-East is a distinct region with our own deep and meaningful history – peppered by post-industrial areas which have been forgotten by this government.

“What this is about is saying no longer will we have forgotten communities. We have to invest and very seriously look at where jobs will go. We are the only party, in my mind, very serious about a huge job creation programme – 80,000 new jobs will come to the North-East under a Labour government.

“We’re also talking about a huge uplift in the minimum rate of pay.

“So many people are in work in the North-East but they cannot earn enough to live a good life or afford their bills without having to service their income by personal debt or even more dangerous types of debt.”

Ms Pidcock said Tory cuts had set the region back nearly a decade, with growth in the North-East 70 per cent slower than London.

Labour has promised a £13bn Green Transformation Fund, including Crossrail for the North, expanding two ports on the Tyne and Tees rivers and a steel recycling plant in Redcar.

The party has also pledged 7,000 new council and social homes a year by the end of 2024, pay rises for 330,000 workers over the age of 16 and 80,000 jobs.

Ms Pidcock told Local Democracy Reporters that manufacturing jobs had seeped out of the region and described Labour's spending plans as a "game-changer".

She added: “Throughout the whole Brexit process, we’ve asked the business community what is causing the greatest amount of concern.

“And not being able to move their goods not knowing if there’ll be tariffs and not knowing if they’ll be leaving the EU with a withdrawal agreement or not.

“It’s easy for people to say get Brexit done but the Conservative government hasn’t got Brexit done in the past three-and-a-half years.

“They have already caused that economic impact for this region."

Henri Murison, director of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, described Crossrail for the North, also known as Northern Powerhouse Rail, as "the golden thread" in Labour's manifesto saying it was "non-negotiable" to close the North-South divide, along with HS2.

He added: "Fiscal credibility is an issue for both Labour and Conservatives, but unfortunately a final figure for Northern Powerhouse Rail cannot be exactly calculated and fixed by Polling Day.

"This is because of some at the Department for Transport insist on working out unnecessary options to avoid Warrington or Bradford - we need both on the route and time has been wasted by government and functionaries pursuing some solutions which northern leaders will never accept."

On Thursday, Chancellor Sajid Javid announced a major road-building programme across the region, with a £28bn budget. He also said the Conservatives had a £48bn budget for rail, in addition to Northern Powerhouse Rail.