Autumn Forecast

Lord Watts Excerpts

Monday 29th November 2010 Commons Chamber

[Mr Osborne]

My hon. Friend makes an extremely good point. What is happening here is a rebalancing of the economy. I hear the shadow Chancellor muttering away about what he calls slow growth, but according to the European Commission forecasts today our growth is more rapid than that of Germany, France, the United States of America or Japan, as well as than the EU average and the eurozone average. I am not sure what his proposals are to increase that growth rate but if he has some, now is the time to produce them.

[Mr Dave Watts (St Helens North) (Lab)]

Is it not the case that most of the public sector cuts will take place in the north and that any jobs that are created—there are not likely to be many—will be in the south? Is not the policy unbalanced?

[Mr Osborne]

In the last decade, under the Government of which the hon. Gentleman was a member, for every 10 jobs created in the south-east only one was created in the midlands and the north. That is the situation that we have inherited and the economic model that we have to change. It is precisely because we want to see exports and investment increase that we are aiming for a more geographically balanced model of economic growth. Announcements such as the one we have made today on the investments by Glaxo will help that, as will the first-time-ever tax cut for new employees that is specifically directed at regions outside the south-east.