A GROUND-BREAKING campaign urging the Government to give the North-East the tools to secure its own economic future is gathering momentum with growing support from political and business leaders.

The backing comes as the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills last night confirmed that the Chancellor would reveal in the spending review later this month the size and content of the single local growth fund to be given to the region’s local enterprise partnerships to boost economic activity.

NEvolution was launched across the North-East on Monday after the region’s newspapers joined together for the first time to press the case for greater powers and more funding to be handed to the region.

The campaign has been welcomed by the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB).

Ted Salmon, FSB North-East regional chairman, said: “It is imperative that the Government backs the North-East by devolving the powers and responsibilities we need to achieve this.

“The spending review at the end of this month gives the Chancellor a great opportunity to demonstrate the Government’s commitment to the region by doing this.”

NEvolution has also secured the backing of many of the region’s MPs.

Stockton South MP James Wharton said: “It must not be a resumption of the failed North-East assembly bid, but I welcome the overall initiative and I’m pleased the Tees Valley in particular is ahead of the crowd with its proposed City Deal bid.”

Ed Cox, director of the think tank IPPR North, said the organisation had long championed the importance of devolving more powers from Whitehall and allowing regions such as the North-East to take control of their own economic futures.

He added: “There is much that businesses and their partners can do for themselves but in the run up to the spending review as we ask government to listen to Heseltine and devolve the power and finance to the city regional economies."

A key aim of the campaign is to urge the Government to adopt the recommendations of a report on economic growth by Tory peer Lord Heseltine.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said the Government had responded positively to Lord Heseltine's report and has already announced that it was creating a single local growth fund which “will see the real and meaningful devolution of local growth funding to local enterprise partnerships”.

“The final size and content of the fund will be set out in the spending review but will include transport, housing and elements of skills as levers for growth. This is in the context of the Government’s priority to reduce the deficit and ensure that there are incentives for growth with the best use of resources," a spokesman added.

 

Backing for the NEvolution campaign is growing

Councillor Paul Watson, chair of the Association of North East Councils and leader of Sunderland City Council, said: “NEvolution makes a clear cut case for the whole of the North-East - with devolution of powers and the ability to direct funding locally, we can make decisions that will foster real economic growth.”

Brian Aitken, editor of The Journal newspaper, said: “NEvolution is a remarkable show of unity from the region’s editors, but if there was to be a part of the country where rivalries would be set aside for the common good, then this is the place. If the Government listens to the calls of the region’s newspapers then we will all benefit.”

Nicola Short, executive director of The Entrepreneurs' Forum, said: “We believe NEvolution utilises the North East’s unique combination of entrepreneurial spirit and its willingness to help each other to achieve common goals.”

Fabrick Housing Group chief executive Alison Thain said: “The NEvolution campaign is very exciting for the North East, as it is a collaboration never seen before. From a housing perspective, a strong regional focus on meeting housing need here in the North-East is vital.”