Jobs and Growth

Eric Ollerenshaw Excerpts

Thursday 17th May 2012 Commons Chamber

[Eric Ollerenshaw (Lancaster and Fleetwood) (Con)]

I am grateful to follow the hon. Member for Glasgow North (Ann McKechin). She mentioned an industrial policy, which we are of course looking at, but the problem she must face is that Lord Mandelson’s industrial policy came far too late. The north-west experienced 13 years in which her Government allowed the gap between north and south to increase, and it increased according to any survey chosen. Ultimately, the only investment that came into the north-west was rapid public sector investment in either construction—the so-called affordable housing that turned out to be one or two-bedroom flats, not real houses for families—or an ever-expanding regional development agency that could do nothing about the expansion of London and the south-east, when compared against the contribution of the north-west or any other region. I am pleased that this Government, through part of the Queen’s Speech, are consolidating the missing links and dealing with the failure to invest in infrastructure over 13 years.

[Emily Thornberry (Islington South and Finsbury) (Lab)]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Eric Ollerenshaw]

I would love to, but I have less than three minutes. I am sorry.

This Government are committed to: an M6 link road around Lancaster, which has been on the stocks since 1948 but nothing was done about it in 13 years of the Labour Government; the northern hub investment, which will improve connectively between the northern cities and enable them to compete; and investment in broadband through Broadband Delivery UK. People talk about superfast broadband, but a third of my constituents do not have access to normal broadband, and that is the failure of real investment over the past 13 years. I believe that the Government are now doing something about that and that things are happening to build that environment and infrastructure so that the north can compete like any other region of the country. Labour Members talk about a lack of vision, but the vision came from the coalition in the very first months. The commitment from my right hon. Friend the Chancellor was that we deal with the deficit but, at the same time, attempt to restructure and rebalance the country not only between sectors, but between regions. That is the vision of the coalition.

[Karl Turner]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Eric Ollerenshaw]

I have no time to give way.

Members have talked about the regional growth fund, which is now committed to making the majority of its spend in the north. That will add to the balancing out through real jobs for real factories. At the same time, while the Government are listening, I suggest that too much of the regional growth fund is still concentrated on metropolitan areas. There is a lot more to the north-west than Greater Manchester and Merseyside, and many businesses need to access the fund, so I hope that it will increase as it develops.

I also look forward to the Local Government Finance Bill returning to the House, because I believe that the freedoms that that will give local authorities through business rate retention will be a truly local way of improving investment and contributing to businesses. I welcome the commitment that the Local Government Association and my county council have made to looking at local government bonds as a way of raising investment for local businesses. The key is to unleash the regions and give them the infrastructure to compete not only on the national stage, but on the international stage, and that means superfast broadband and the ability to use our own money to invest in our own business. I congratulate the Government on what they have done about this so far.