Future aircraft carrier project:

"I hope Swan Hunter and other companies secure as high a proportion of the work as possible. There is a great deal of confidence around but I do not think the final decision has been made about what proportion of that business will come to the North-East. We need to maximise the business that does come."

Corus:

"The company is positive about putting forward this business proposal for that element (Teesside) to be independent and sell into world markets. Clearly there is an issue about the timescale it would take to achieve this. At this stage I am adopting a positive approach. They have a business proposal, it looks to be feasible but testing. It is not going to be easy to put in place. We ought to give it every opportunity."

Devolving government departments to the region:

"We do present a favourable prospect as a region because we have had a track record of success in other areas of civil service activity in the past. Generally civil service in different forms has found that the workforce it requires has the right skills, if it has not been there, training has been provided. The North-East is a very positive prospect for Government to look to relocate jobs. The real test is how far the Chancellor of the Exchequer manages to convince people of the Government that this is a real high priority."