North-East Independent Economic Review

Grahame Morris Excerpts

Thursday 5th September 2013 Commons Chamber

[Guy Opperman]

The hon. Gentleman need not take my word for it; he can listen to the author of the report and the business men and business women who believe in the north-east being able to cope with those difficulties and strongly make the case that there is optimism to be found there.

The next step as regards the combined north-east local authority is to pick a leader. I would certainly support having a mayor.

[Grahame M. Morris (Easington) (Lab)]

The hon. Gentleman is talking about a champion—a mayor—to lead the LA7, or strategic authority—[Interruption.] I am not canvassing for the job; I am going to suggest a job for the hon. Gentleman, actually. On that basis, does he support the idea eloquently expressed by my right hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle upon Tyne East (Mr Brown) that we should have a Minister for the north-east as an advocate who did precisely that job at the heart of Government? Perhaps that would be a good job for the hon. Gentleman.

[Guy Opperman]

I am delighted by the recommendation for promotion, but as the hon. Gentleman knows, that is way above my pay grade and way beyond my decision-making powers.

--- Later in debate ---

[Grahame M. Morris (Easington) (Lab)]

First, I congratulate my right hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle upon Tyne East (Mr Brown) on securing this debate, as well as all other right hon. and hon. Members who supported our bid for it, and the Backbench Business Committee for giving us an opportunity to discuss this important report. In the time available, I want to address some of the issues from the perspective of east Durham, as you might expect me to do, Mr Speaker.

Without being over-critical, and while acknowledging the contributions of everyone who has been involved in preparing the report, not least Lord Adonis, we might be able to offer some reflections that might be helpful in determining a strategy that can produce the best results possible in terms of generating the maximum jobs and growth in the region that we care so much about. As other right hon. and hon. Members have said, we need to address issues that concentrate on process. The one thing that stood out in my mind when I was looking at the report was that it is spatially blind. In other words, it does not concentrate on people or place. In an area such as mine, Easington in east Durham, which is away from the urban core, that will present a particular problem.

I do not want to dwell too much on what has happened in the past, but it is important to inform our opinion and reflect on what has worked and what perhaps has not. Some policies, incentives and strategies have been successful, whereas others have been less so. The collective view, if I may venture an opinion, is that our regional development agency, One North East, which was abolished by the coalition Government, was pivotal in acting as a pole of attraction, not only to bring in overseas investment, but to encourage growth from small and medium-sized enterprises already located in our region. I could list a number of companies in my constituency that were helped by One North East.

Let me emphasise my support for the concept of a Minister for the north-east and pay tribute to my right hon. Friend the Member for Newcastle upon Tyne East for his sterling work in support of projects in the area. Some, such as the centre for creative excellence, did not come to fruition but it could have created more than 1,000 jobs and many hundreds of training places, giving a vista of opportunity to young people in east Durham. Sadly, however, that project is on the back burner, shall we say, because of a lack of funds. I will not go into the precise problems, but it looked at one point as though it would have come to fruition. That would have been a real boost not just for east Durham but for the region and for our further education colleges and universities.

It is important to audit our physical and non-physical assets. East Durham’s physical assets include advanced modern office and factory units, and road and rail transport infrastructure, including Seaham, County Durham’s only port. We have a modern multi-modal distribution terminal—ship, rail and road—and industrial and commercial land, including the large industrial site to which I referred earlier. We have an automotive supply chain and opportunities to develop port-related activities, including distribution. Those are assets on which we could build.

We also have people assets. The hon. Member for Hexham (Guy Opperman) said that not enough students from our region went to the Russell Group universities. We have some world-class universities in the region and many do not get the praise they deserve. Teesside has links and synergies with the chemicals industry, and Sunderland is one of the best universities for pharmacology. I am sure that there are examples from all our universities and they are a real asset that we should build on. Our work force are skilled, interchangeable and adaptable. All those things provide opportunities to develop new skills or more advanced skills for potential employees moving in to the area.

Given that we have a stock of physical and non-physical assets in east Durham, it is important that we market them effectively to potential investors. How we can best achieve that is the $64,000 question. The LEP must recognise that all economic growth and investment cannot be channelled into the urban hubs in the core cities. Although I welcome the establishment of the combined local authorities, they might need to consider particular needs and the targeting of sector-specific support in particular places, especially those on the periphery of the urban core. I am thinking, perhaps selfishly, about Seaham in my constituency and the former new towns, such as Peterlee, which are less strongly connected to growth centres. I know that there are other similar examples in other Members’ constituencies, such as Redcar. I feel that the LEP should have a stated commitment in its strategy to tackle what I describe as economic cold spots in the region—those that suffer particular disadvantage, such as east Durham and south-east Northumberland. I know that there are others.

We must also pay attention to what is happening in the EU. There will be a number of reports, including the fifth cohesion report, that will inform the next round of European regional development fund funding. We must take account of that and ensure that we have an effective place-based policy to get the maximum benefit from investment in goods and services to stimulate growth in our area.

There are issues with those not in employment, education or training and I hope that they will be addressed. Our own East Durham college should play a leading role in that.