Corbyn: Only Labour stands up for the North

Jeremy Corbyn today accused the Tories of ‘outsourcing’ the Northern Powerhouse project to London, after new figures revealed that almost all senior staff working on it are based in the capital.

Speaking at Labour’s North Conference in Newcastle today, Corbyn said that George Osborne was not delivering on his promises to boost the northern economy, and that Labour is the only party standing up for the North of England.

“The government’s own figures show Osborne talks the talk, but he doesn’t walk the walk”, Corbyn said. “When it comes to the Northern Powerhouse, Osborne’s just not delivering.”

“Look closely at the government’s infrastructure ‘pipeline’ – and you find that only a fifth is actually in construction and most of the investment for those projects is going to London and the South East.

“Shockingly, the North East accounts for less than one per cent of the value of those infrastructure projects in construction. That’s not fair, and it’s letting down the people of the North East.”

The Labour leader also highlighted how few of the Northern Powerhouse staff were actually based in the North.

“Just last week it was revealed that 97 per cent of senior staff working on the Northern Powerhouse are based not in Sheffield or Leeds, not in Manchester or Liverpool, not even in Carlisle or here in Newcastle, but in London,” he said.

“That just sums it up a Northern Powerhouse outsourced to London. There is only one party that stands up for the North of England and that is Labour.”

Shadow minister Jon Ashworth also addressed delegates at Labour North Conference today, assuring activists that the party is prepared to take on whoever succeeds David Cameron.

“Every week we see more and more Tory ministers putting more and more of their energy into plotting and scheming for the Tory succession rather than doing what is best for the nation,” he said.

“We’ve seen Boris Johnson put his narrow personal political interest ahead of the national interest.

“Next week we’ll see George Osborne’s latest moves in the Tory leadership skirmishes as he unveils his budget  He’s already u-turned on pension tax relief for the wealthy. We’ve seen him spray extra cash on Tory shire councils while cutting deeper into the funds Labour Councils rely on.”

He added: “Whatever happens let me assure you we in the Labour Party are getting ready for the upcoming change in Tory leadership. The test for George Osborne, for Boris Johnson, Theresa May and others isn’t the quality of their leadership campaigning but the quality of their judgment. And on all the big questions, time and time again they have got it wrong and failed the decent hardworking people of this country.”