Tony Blair's Government will bid today to prove its commitment to the North-East by creating 100 jobs and siting a new health watchdog in the region.

The Prime Minister is in Newcastle to deliver an electioneering speech outlining the "big choices" ahead on the economy, and contrasting Labour's success in building prosperity with Tory "boom and bust" plans to slash public spending.

Mr Blair, MP for Sedgefield, in County Durham, will also unveil a specially-commissioned Government report on the North-East, with facts and figures on the region's economy, health, education and crime.

Last night, Tory leader William Hague launched a pre-emptive strike by telling the North-East Chamber of Commerce how 23,000 people had lost their jobs in the past two years under New Labour.

Richmond MP Mr Hague called on Chancellor Gordon Brown to use his pre-Budget report next week to signal action to lessen the impact of taxation.

''He should make it a clear objective of Government policy to reduce the burden of taxation that is hitting millions of hard-working families and businesses throughout the country," he said.

Today, Health Secretary and Darlington MP Alan Milburn is due to announce a fresh "vote of confidence in the North-East" by declaring that the new National Care Standards Commission will be based in Newcastle.

The new body, which will have the power to regulate social care services and shut down private hospitals if they fail tough standards, will initially provide the 100 jobs, he will say.

The care commission, which will eventually oversee a national network of more than 2,000 people, will be fully operating by April 2002.

The Prime Minister's visit today comes just over a week after his Government helped create 1,000 new North-East jobs by ensuring the return of warship building to the Tyne at the Swan Hunter yard.

But the Government was criticised for denying Cammell Laird's Teesside shipworkers a share in defence orders.

Earlier this week, Environment Minister Lord Whitty admitted that the gap between unemployment in the North-East and the UK average had widened since New Labour came to power in May 1997.

Downing Street said last night that the Prime Minister had asked the Government Office for the North-East to prepare the new regional report.

Mr Blair has previously been criticised for playing down the North/South economic divide, but Number 10 said last night that the new report would not pull its punches on problems in the region. "It's an honest look at what's going on and whether the Government has made progress," The Northern Echo was told.

Mr Blair's speech today is billed as being the first in a series defining the Government's approach to key issues ahead of the General Election.