MATT Vickers, MP for Stockton South has pushed the government to announce “not if, but when” Teesside would be announced as the preferred location for 750 new civil service jobs in a major relocation away from Whitehall.

Addressing the Westminster Chamber on Thursday, Mr Vickers said, “There is an amazing world of opportunities, talent and skills outside of London.”

“Here on Teesside we are on the up, our airport has been reborn, we are leading the green technology revolution and we have some of the brightest and best entrepreneurs and manufacturers.

“We’re fighting for a Freeport and we are gagging for growth.”

Back In March, chancellor Rishi Sunak’s first Budget set out the goal of moving 22,000 jobs out of central London by 2030, and promised to set up a 750-strong, multi-departmental economic policymaking campus in the North.

Earlier this month, Cabinet Office minister Michael Gove emphasised that the government is intent on shifting policymakers into “overlooked and hitherto undervalued communities”.

Previous relocations have favoured “cities such as Bristol and Sheffield, with a particular socio-economic profile and a particularly large proportion of existing university graduates,” he said.

“We need to be more ambitious for Newcastle, for Teesside and Teesdale, for North Wales, for the North-East of Scotland, for East Lancashire, for West Bromwich.”

Matt Vickers commenting on the upcoming location announcement said: “I am doing all I can to get these jobs up to Teesside, I really do think it would be brilliant for our part of the world. Not just symbolically, we really would be dragging real decision-making power away from London, helping us further determine our own destiny.”

Matt Vickers is set to meet the Minister responsible for the relocation project next week.