CONSERVATIVE leader Iain Duncan Smith told an audience of North-East industrialists yesterday that his party would revive the region's ailing manufacturing economy.

Mr Duncan Smith visited flue manufacturer Rite-Vent, on the Crowther industrial estate, in Washington, Wearside.

He went on a brief tour of the site before addressing about 30 of the region's business leaders on the Tories' plans to cut tax and public spending.

He hit out at Government plans to raise National Insurance contributions, due to come into force in April.

"For a company like Rite-Vent, this means an added cost of around £10,000 a year," he said.

"For a typical Rite-Vent employee, it means an additional take of £100 a year. This is nothing short of a tax on jobs - plain and simple."

Just a few miles down the road, a Government minister was giving some of the region's manufacturing bosses the other side of the argument.

Alan Johnson, Minister of State for Employment Relations, Industry and the Regions, was the guest speaker at the Engineering Employers Federation (EEF) Northern annual meeting at its offices in Derwent House, Washington.

Paul Ashley, president of the EEF Northern said: "There is a very urgent need for the Government to address the problems facing manufacturing, which provides almost 20 per cent of employment in the North-East."

Later, Mr Duncan Smith visited Churchill Community College in Wallsend, North Tyneside, where he met pupils and staff.

The Tory leader ate lunch with some of the pupils at the school, which has 1,100 students.

The final leg of his North-East tour was a trip to Hexham Auction Mart.