THE Government needs to put its money, and its jobs, where its mouth is.

It was elected to level up. With the country brought down to its knees by the pandemic, the Budget in a month’s time is the place to get cracking.

No more slogans, no more promises, we need action to turn the region into a true powerhouse that can help rebuild the nation after the corona crisis.

The Northern Echo:

Today, ahead of the March 3 Budget, The Northern Echo joins forces with the region’s business leaders and figures from across the political spectrum to urge Chancellor Rishi Sunak into action.

And there can be no bigger example of real movement than the announcement that 750 Treasury jobs are, after being talked about for so long, coming to a campus at Teesside Airport. It would be totemic – a sure sign that the Government really is reaching out to the provinces and really is determined to get under the skin of the “red wall”.

Voters in County Durham and the Tees Valley broke with the past by turning blue in the December 2019 election – some seats returned first Conservative MPs for 125 years – and now the Government has to break with the inaction of the past.

So, we need to protect what we have – that means extending support schemes, especially the furlough programme, which is due to run out at the end of April long before the vaccines are fully rolled out.

We also need to look after the poorest – that means extending the £20-a-week uplift to Universal Credit, which is due to end on March 31.

And then we need to look to the future. We need the impetus to start a green economic recovery, and we need a transport system – particularly a local rail network – that works. We need greater powers to make decisions locally and to get things done on the ground.

The Northern Echo:

We need big, new ideas, not just promises of tinkering with the tax system. Mr Sunak has been talking for some years about freeports. With a lack of regulation, they have potential downsides, but we are now in an unparalleled crisis, so let’s set one up properly at the mouth of the Tees and see if we can make it work.

Mr Sunak is the Richmond MP, covering the glories of the Yorkshire Dales, so he knows first hand how hard the hospitality sector has been hit. It desperately needs assistance.

Last year, Mr Sunak introduced the Eat Out to Help Out scheme which was innovative and attention-grabbing. It encouraged people to return to restaurants. It was the right scheme, but probably at the wrong time.

With the vaccination roll-out going as well as can have been hoped for, there will be a right time for such a bold scheme – and when the pandemic finally lifts, people will be in need of a holiday. So why not Give Us A Break – a Government scheme to encourage people to staycate and restart the rural economy?

The Northern Echo:

We know Mr Sunak will have so many competing demands and, with borrowing set to reach £400bn in 2020-21 which would be the highest figure ever outside wartime, faces many difficult choices.

But he must also know that the time for words and promises has now passed. We live in unprecedented times, so we need an unprecedented response.

And we need action so that the region can become a power-boost for the recovering economy; we need the Government to put money where it’s mouth has been for so long.