Tech is 'rooted in the North East' Minister tells Echo

As the Government announced almost £140m for automotive technology across the UK, including money for Turntide Technologies in Gateshead and Thermulon in Sedgefield, Minister for Industry Blair McDougall said the region’s pride in its work was a key factor.

“In the North East, when you think about what you make and what you give to the world, there is a real sense of pride in the automotive sector as something you’re really good at – and that’s what we’re standing behind today.

“What we’re investing in today obviously benefits the big names in the region, but also the supply chain – those smaller companies doing innovative things that will create new jobs and root automotive manufacturing in the North East for generations to come.

“This is about getting ahead of the new technologies – autonomous and connected vehicles, things that feel almost a bit sci‑fi – and rooting that in the North East so our kids have the high‑paid, quality jobs as well.

“Yes, it’s an economic mission – making sure people have more money in their pay packet because we’re creating and supporting high‑paid jobs – but it’s also about giving people a sense of purpose and pride in where they live and in the country they live in.”

The new announcement means £130 million for cutting-edge net zero automotive technologies securing over 1,800 jobs, with almost £65m of government funding being matched by industry to back projects from self-driving cars to more affordable EVs.

Mr McDougall said there had been a long-term drive to support the region, and his new boss Andy Burnham was determined to see action rather than words.

“There is, apart from the vision and the policy agenda, a sense of urgency and impatience to the new Prime Minister, which is important in terms of driving change and getting things done. The Prime Minister has turned the telescope around the other way. His entire DNA, his whole sense of being, is rooted outside of Whitehall.

“He is looking at the world in a completely different way and it’s incredibly exciting to have someone who has that impatience to make sure everyone is brought along on that journey of growth, regardless of where they are in the country.

“You go to the cities in the North East – I was in Darlington at the economic campus recently – and you feel a sense of energy. The national leadership’s important, but that local dynamic leadership is so important as well.”

“You can look back over the last few years, not just under the new Prime Minister, at over a billion pounds of government support going into the automotive sector in the North East. This is the latest, and important, vote of confidence – but it’s part of a long‑term vote of confidence in people in that part of the world.

“How do you show that sense of connection and that feeling that we get it as ministers and as a Labour government? We do it by acting. Talk is cheap – it’s about action, and that’s what today is: real money and real partnership with industry - we reckon about 1,800 jobs supported off the back of nearly £140m.”

The Minister said a powerful and precisely directed skills pipeline was vital to supply the new innovators as well as the established big names .

“We’ve gone through all of the sectors in the industrial strategy, including advanced manufacturing, that we think are going to power economic growth in the future, and worked with industry to create skills and jobs plans so we’re identifying where the problems are,” he said.

“We’ve been working very closely with the automotive industry to make sure we are filling those gaps, and we want people here to be excited about the future they’ll have in the automotive industry in the North East.

“I’m a parent – most parents, when we think about AI and technology and a world of really rapid change, worry about what our kids are going to be doing. Today’s investment gives a bit of reassurance that we are creating those jobs so your kids will have a lifetime of opportunity in advanced manufacturing in the North East.”