Keir Starmer today outlined his vision for a renewed North East with improved living standards, better transport and more jobs.

The Labour leader believes that people across the region should vote for his party at the next election after a wave of "false promises" from Boris Johnson in 2019.

He believes that his party has changed in the last four years and that they now have a positive offer for the country.

During his visit to Clearly Drinks in Sunderland he made the argument that Labour is now the "party for business".

He said: "Labour is the party for business. It’s for business, with business.

"What we would put in a king’s speech if we were doing it next week is a plan for growth for the buildings and infrastructure that we need.

"An incoming Labour government, if we’re privileged to come into serve, working with business to drive forward.

"Some examples of that, we want clean power by 2030.

"That will generate the next generation of jobs including the digger factories that we need, it will also drive down energy prices.

"We’re here at Clearly Drinks and their energy prices have gone up and we can bring that down with the plans that we have got. This is a pro-business Labour Party."

When asked about what he would do for transport in the North East if he won the next election he slammed the HS2 saga as the Prime Minister "trying to pull a fast one".

He said: "The Leamside Line is a sign of the complete chaos of the government where the right-hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing.

"The PM was trying to pull a fast one and everybody here called him out for that.

"The whole thing shows a complete lack of planning.

"Anybody here in the North East will tell you that infrastructure and transport isn’t working as it should and I don’t just mean between cities but I mean within cities as well.

"We have to fix that and I think the proper way is to sit down with the mayors which is what we have been doing and talking through the plans which can be implemented."

The repeated failed promises from the Conservative party since 2019 and Labour's new vision for the area are the two reasons Mr Starmer believes people in the North East will back him.

He said: "Boris Johnson made promises that he didn’t deliver. I think that is unforgivable.

"He asked people for their vote without the determination and the intent to see through those promises.

"We have turned the Labour Party around.

Get the latest news, sports, and entertainment delivered straight to your device, for just £3 for 3 months, click here

Most read

Venomous adder spotted at County Durham village location

Greggs drive-thru to be built near B&M and Lidl in Consett

Saltwell Park Gateshead firework display cancelled

"We have changed the Labour Party and we now have a positive offer to put to the country which is not just a false promise like what Boris Johnson put before them.

"It is a thought-out plan for 10 years of national renewal which will be felt in living standards here, in jobs here, in the skills that we need for the future.

"People have been desperately let down by Boris Johnson, now we have a positive case and this is a changed Labour Party."