Labour has vowed to “make working people better off” with tens of thousands of new jobs in industrial heartlands decimated by the Tories.
Shadow Chancellor Rachel Reeves will set out details of Labour’s promise to bring in a jobs revolution, with 650,000 new roles created for plumbers, electricians, engineers and technicians over five years. Under the plans, the party would create 350 new jobs a day over the next Parliament, including 35,000 roles in the North East, 77,000 in the North West, 71,000 in Yorkshire and Humber and 29,000 in Wales.
It comes as former coalfield communities still struggle with unemployment, 40 years after the miners’ strike. Recent research for the Coalfields Regeneration Trust (CRT) said job growth in old pit areas has been far slower than in regional cities.
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Philip Coburn)
There are just 57 employee jobs for every 100 residents of working age in former mining areas, compared to the national average of 73, and 88 in regional cities.
Ms Reeves promised that Labour would create decent, well-paid jobs in communities destroyed by Margaret Thatcher and left behind by the Tories’ broken promise to level up the country.
Ahead of a campaign visit to promote the plans, she told the Mirror: “Britain’s industrial heartlands were destroyed by Thatcher in the 1980s, with families and pensioners still paying the price. Labour will turn things around, with a plan to make working people better off in all parts of the country.
“My promise to Mirror readers is this: I will work night and day to bring good, well-paid jobs to communities that have been forgotten under this Conservative government. The British people are crying out for change.”
New jobs created under Labour’s plans over five years per region
North East – 35,000
North West – 77,000
Yorkshire and the Humber – 71,000
East Midlands – 46,000
West Midlands – 50,000
Eastern – 56,000
London – 68,000
South East – 77,000
South West – 61,000
Scotland – 69,000
Wales – 29,000
Northern Ireland – 17,500
Total – 656,500
Labour will invest £7.3billion in a new National Wealth Fund over the next Parliament to pay for ambitious plans for clean power and warmer homes. The cash will be poured into re-industrialising the UK, creating hundreds of thousands of new jobs.
This would include £2.5 billion to rebuild the steel industry, £1.8 billion to upgrade ports and build supply chains, and £1.5 billion for the automotive industry.
Ms Reeves will today unveil a new target for every £1 invested in the fund to unlock at least £3 from the private sector, helping the party to fund the transition to net zero.
The Tories made levelling up a key plank of their 2019 manifesto but a damning report said in March that only 10% of the cash had actually been spent. Of £10.47billion in total funding committed from central government until 2025-26, local authorities had only been able to spend £1.24billion.
Dame Meg Hillier, chair of the cross-party Public Accounts Committee, said the delay was “absolutely astonishing”. The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC) told the committee that impact of the pandemic and inflation resulted in a lower than anticipated amount of funding having been spent.
Last month, the Tories were accused of siphoning off levelling up cash to fund Rishi Sunak’s controversial National Service plans. Some of the UK’s poorest areas are predicted to lose out on tens of millions of pounds earmarked for community safety and high street regeneration due to the PM’s plans to force 18-year-olds to do military service or compulsory volunteering.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) said areas like Merthyr Tydfil, in South Wales, Cornwall and the Tees Valley had the most to lose if the controversial Tory pledge goes ahead.