TEES Valley mayoral candidate Jessie Joe Jacobs is calling for an electric revolution – with the Tees Valley in the driving seat of a new clean, green vehicle industry.

As well as her vision for a Green Future centred around ambitious plans to bring one of three proposed giant £500m gigafactories to the Tees and the tens of thousands of jobs it would create, Ms Jacobs also wants to ensure local people have the skills to benefit from the employment opportunities.

She said securing a plant for Teesside would mean around 10,000 jobs in electric battery and fast-charge point technology manufacturing and the supply chain to support the growth of the pioneering sector.

She has also set out a Green Futures scheme to train up up to thousands of local young people in the green jobs of the future through fully funded green apprenticeships and training courses.

Ms Jacobs said: "I'm passionate about green energy and the impact we have on climate change – it has always been close to my heart.

"These schemes will bring quality jobs for local people, but we have to ensure the skills are there. That's why I will be pushing for educators to visit schools and start talking about green employment opportunities for young people, so they can get the training they need to access the jobs.

"It's important to make opportunities fair. The communities I work with have been quite far from the labour market, and many roles feel out of reach to many."

The Labour Party have unveiled a £1.5 billion national plan to make a new generation of efficient electric cars affordable and boosting the switch to sustainable transport and a zero emission future.

And Ms Jacobs, the Labour candidate in May's election, is pushing for the Tees Valley to get one of the huge new sites.

"I will campaign day and night to make sure we get one of those factories here on the Tees," she said.

"We led the first industrial revolution and we can be the pioneers leading the next one," she said.

"We have the people here with the skills and energy to make us the engine-room of a clean, green future for motoring.

"We built the world here, now it is time to protect it. We can lead the way in tackling the urgent climate crisis with real investment, real vision and creating real jobs fit for the future. We can deliver on this."

Ms Jacobs said: "The Tees can be a focus for this new technology, creating a strong battery supply chain and fast recharging technology so the UK can build on a position as a leading electric vehicle producer and sell to the world.

"It would bring high-skilled, world-leading future-proofed jobs to the area for our young people and give us a strong platform to rebuild our industrial base after 10 years of Tory decline.

"It fits in with my personal vision to shape a new Tees fit for the future. We must focus on green apprenticeships and train a generation of young people to work on the industries of the future, on electric, wind, solar and carbon capture.

"I plan to launch a Green Futures training scheme to bring in fully funded green apprenticeships and training to ensure local people benefit from the new industry and technology."

Labour are set to unveil sweeping plans to transform the British motoring industry with huge investment in not just the gigafactories but also a scrappage scheme for petrol cars and interest free loans to encourage the public to switch to electric.

"I believe that the future of the Tees is in new high-tech industries and we need to prepare the ground for that.

"We need to train our young people so they have the skills to join these new sectors.

"And we need to ensure that public sector bodies and local transport buy into electric and make the switch too."

Labour aim to ensure that everyone in the country can benefit from the electric revolution. Low-income families are often priced out of electric vehicle ownership, with people in the South East four times more likely to own an electric car than people in the Tees Valley.

Current Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said he was already in talks to bring gigafactories to the area.

He said: "“It would seem that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

"Only two weeks ago I publicly announced I was in serious discussions with not one, but two international investors to bring gigafactories to our area. These discussions have been ongoing for some time, but have accelerated as a result of securing the UK’s biggest Freeport for Teesside.

“My opponent has publicly denounced the huge benefits the Teesside Freeport will bring to our region, but it’s already creating jobs for local workers.

"Just the other week GE announced that they would build their first ever manufacturing facility in the UK for the offshore wind industry on Teesworks, creating more than 2,000 good-quality, well-paid jobs for local workers.

"We were only able to secure GE because by plan for the Teesside Freeport was given the green light."