Ian Mearns
Main Page: Ian Mearns (Labour - Gateshead)(12 years, 3 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
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Vince Cable
I am very happy developing the strategy at the moment and am open to any support from all comers.
Ian Mearns (Gateshead) (Lab)
There has been some discussion in the press this morning in the north-east of England about the Deputy Prime Minister establishing a new inquiry into the growth of the north-east as an economy, involving people such as the chief executive of Northumbrian Water and the Bishop of Durham, with Lord Adonis as the chair. What does the Secretary of State think he can do in conjunction with an inquiry of that nature to grow confidence in the economy so that British business starts to invest the £700 billion that it is sitting on?
Vince Cable
I recognise that there are severe problems in the north-east, as I have been there many times and I have talked first hand to representatives and to the business people involved. The north-east has one potentially major advantage in an economy that is rebalancing, as manufacturing forms a high proportion of its total economy, as do exports. I was last in Newcastle a few weeks ago, and there are many good, positive new industrial developments on the Tyne. That might be an indication of better things to come, as might developments in the car industry in that part of the country.