North Eastern Manufacturing Jobs Have Been Slashed Under Labour

Manufacturing should be an integral part of our regional and our national economy. As I blogged the other day, the North East should play a leading role in the development of an export led economy, with our region being a trailblazer in terms of green industry and high tech manufacturing.

This makes it even more troubling that manufacturing has been hit so badly in the past 13 years. Since Labour were elected in 1997, almost 95,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost in our region. It is extremely worrying that, in the same time period, the number of advanced manufacturing jobs (in the medium to high tech sectors) has fallen by 56 per cent. Our area has a proud manufacturing tradition and an enormous potential to be a world leading manufacturing region. Sadly, Labour have not shown the vision, the ideas or the actions to ensure that our region meets its potential. It should also be noted that our balance of trade has nose dived in January, as the chart below (originally produced by Left Foot Forward and taken from the latest ONS figures) illustrates:

We need bold ideas, real vision and real leadership to ensure that the North East fulfills its potential to be a world leading manufacturing area. That has not come over the past 13 years. It is time that the Labour establishment in the North East steps aside to make way for proud North Easterners who bring vision and determination to ensure our region fulfills its economic potential.