LAST week George Osborne laid out his Autumn Statement in what was, I think it is fair to say, one of the most politically charged addresses of recent years, writes Mark Stephenson of the NECC.

Yet behind the politics there were some hugely important details on policies that will shape how wealthy we are as people, businesses and as a nation well into the future.

As a chamber of commerce representing businesses throughout the region, businesses employing a third of the North-East workforce, we made a submission setting out the economic role that we believe ardently the North-East should have has a subsidiary of UK Plc.

The do’ers and the makers – they live here. The exporters, they live here too. And we have huge capacity for growth – but all too often that capacity is overlooked while decision makers trip over themselves to keep pace with overcrowding or political opportunity elsewhere. We are calling for that to change.

However, the change that we are seeking in the North-East, with more employment and wealth led by a burgeoning private sector, does not come without significant investment. This week we received an instalment, with £240m announced for the A1 on top of the £700m down payment already earmarked for North-East transport infrastructure. A start has been made.

Reforms to small business taxation, including NI contributions made on apprentices under the age of 25, help for students seeking graduate education and extensions of SME rate relief will all play a part in helping businesses deliver change.

We have also called for a raft of measures to enable housing development. There is a shortage of housing that everyone knows about yet we have not taken meaningful action in this area for many years. Getting house building moving will unlock economic dividends, as NECC and Partner member Watson Burton outlined in our report – Solving the Housing Conundrum – just last week.

Above all our message to Government is that we can produce and export even more than we are already. The increasingly plural economy we have in the North-East has new strength in depth and while we have our challenges, we also have a great many opportunities that Government policy must play its part in addressing.

Generally businesses would prefer if Government just got out of the way and let business generate wealth and jobs for our economy. Yet where Government is bound to get involved, areas such as devolution and infrastructure, the change we are seeking can only be realised if the North-East matters to decision makers.

Levels of investment testify to the fact that in the not too distant past the North-East didn’t matter to the politicians. Hopefully that is changing: recent announcements would suggest our message is finally getting through.