Business and political leaders across the North East reacted fairly lukewarm to the Chancellor’s spring statement, saying she was not doing enough to tackle rising costs facing families and businesses.
Rishi Sunak announced a reduction in fuel taxes and an increase in the national insurance contribution threshold for workers. But with Wednesday’s statement after official figures showed a further rise in inflation, most groups in the region felt the announced measures did not go far enough.
Arlen Pettitt, knowledge development manager for the North East of England Chamber of Commerce, said: “This spring statement was not on a large enough scale to make a difference for many businesses, or for our region as a whole, at this time”, while Richard Baker, Strategy and Policy Director of LEP North East, said: “Some of the big investments that could have accelerated growth in the North East will wait for the budget. We also expect to see more detail on regional policy issues, including details on the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, later in the year.”
Read more : Could part of Eldon Square be turned into apartments?
Local Labor politicians including Nick Brown, Nick Forbes and Kim McGuinness have criticized the lack of action on the rising cost of living, although the Chancellor has been praised by Tory MPs Richard Holden and Guy Opperman , who pointed to measures to reduce national insurance. burden.
But many felt that not enough was being done for the poorest in society. Amanda Bailey, Director of the North East Child Poverty Commission, said: “Today was an opportunity to protect the lowest income people in our region from even greater hardship in the face of the worst crisis in the cost of childcare. life for a generation. This opportunity was well and truly missed.
The upgrade “will not be forgotten”
The Minister for Leveling Up says the North East ‘will not be forgotten’ as two projects in County Durham receive a £120,000 boost.
Neil O’Brien was in County Durham on Thursday to visit the historic High House Chapel in Weardale and the neglected Dorset Place Community Center in Bishop Auckland, both of which are due for transformation. Both projects will benefit from more than £120,000 under the government’s Community Property Fund. The funding will help support community takeovers of highly valued assets as part of the government’s mission to get up to speed across the country.
As work was underway to transform the buildings, Mr O’Brien said he wanted to see more well-paying jobs in the area. He said: “We want to make sure County Durham and the North East are not forgotten and we want to address some of the issues that people are concerned about.
“We want to try to make sure there are more good paying jobs here by doing a lot of different things. It’s also about looking at underlying issues that can hold communities back, such as health inequities. Everything we do, from direct funding to the High Street regeneration fund to the Bishop Auckland fund, is all part of that.
The Conservatives retain their seat on the council
‘I did it for him’ – these were the words of newly elected Councilor Eve Chicken after taking over from her close friend Paul Scott following a by-election victory.
Voters in the Seghill ward with Seaton Delaval headed to the polls on Thursday to elect a new councilor after the death of Paul Scott, the Conservative councilor who won the Labor seat in 2021.
Coun Chicken was a close friend of Mr Scott, and the pair worked closely together during his tenure as county councilor, while Coun Chicken was a member of Seaton Valley Community Council. Mr. Scott died suddenly in January. The cause of his death has not been made public.
Conservative candidate Coun Chicken won the evening with an impressive 702 votes, nearly 200 ahead of her closest rival, Labour’s Christine Savage. Green Party candidate Clive Robson got 29 votes, while Alisdair Gibbs-Barton got 21 votes. Voter turnout was 27.4%, compared to 35.2% in local elections last year.
The slowed down economy
Newcastle’s economy is losing £1.7billion a year due to poor public transport and poorly planned neighbourhoods, a new study has found.
Research from the Center for Cities group indicates that more than four million people living around the northern cities of Newcastle, Manchester, Leeds, Sheffield and Liverpool cannot get to their city centers by public transport in 30 minutes, which which prevents them from having employment and educational opportunities. Only around a third of the inhabitants of northern urban areas are well connected to city centres, half the levels of European cities such as Hamburg, Marseille and Bilbao.
Newcastle outperforms its northern counterparts in terms of connectivity, with 46% of residents able to reach the city center in 30 minutes or less, but that’s still good…
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Source: www.chroniclelive.co.uk
This notice was published: 2022-03-27 07:40:29
