THE lack of a coherent Government policy on "green" industries is thwarting the creation of thousands of jobs in the Tees Valley, writes Alex Cunningham, Labour MP for Stockton North.

Our industrialists are committed, they have investors who believe they can bring prosperity but they are reluctant to take the big steps to make it happen.

Even the Government's own Energy Secretary believes the policy division and scepticism at the highest level in the Cabinet is placing billions of pounds in investment at risk and it is areas like ours that are losing out.

We have seen the solar panel industry damaged by cuts in tariffs, it had grown from 3000 employees in 450 companies to 25,000 in 4,000 businesses but in the last year 6,000 jobs have gone. Add to that the uncertainty created over 101 Conservative MPs demanding that the £400m-a-year subsidies paid to the wind turbine industry be cut and we have a recipe for confusion.

The Tees Valley and other riverside areas in the North-East couldn't be better placed or equipped to exploit, in particular the wind farm industry. Tag Energy Services on the Tees have invested tens of millions in state-of- the-art facilities to create the monopiles and other components needed by the wind industry. Yet they have to fight for every small contract going when their order books could be overflowing if the policy environment was right.

The Government can weld themselves to the green industries by sweeping away the uncertainty, confirming the incentives and state clearly and simply that such industries have a pivotal role to play in future energy policy.

Beyond that we must ensure our companies, our investors, our workers get the work from the builders of world's biggest wind farms off our coast. Too many orders for everything from monopiles to turbines are placed in continental Europe. We need a signal from Government that they value our people and facilities and expect the energy industry to buy British.