Autumn/Winter Statment

The autumn statement has been transformed. It used to be an ordinary day in parliament where the chancellor updated MPs and the the public (or at least the public who read the FT) on the progress made since the budget. It is now a set piece event to rival budget day, taking on even greater importance five months out from a general election.

Most of what was said in the autumn statement had already been announced, the dualling of 13 miles of the A1 was lauded as a victory, with North East Tories and Lib-dems tripping over each other to take credit for a road improvement which is welcome, but amounts to less than half a job, stopping 25 miles south of the Scottish border.

The NHS was promised extra cash, which would be welcome, if some of had not previously been cut from NHS budgets. The chancellors smoke and mirrors on the NHS will fail to hide the squeeze NHS budgets caused by a costly £3Bn top down reorganisation.

Stamp duty hit the headlines, I'm still yet to see a simple breakdown of how this will work, it sounds like tax cut for those moving house, but the chancellor failed to address the unfairness in the system when someone living in a £290,000 family home pays the as the owner of £10M mansion.

Hexham's current MP was mentioned in the debate, not by Osborne, but by the speaker, who on two occasions had to ask him to stop heckling loudly. On the first occasion the telling off was jovial, speaker Bercow saying that Northumberland's only Tory MP was normally a 'good boy', the second time the speaker had to intervene he invited Mr Opperman to leave the chamber.

The sitting MP for Hexham in transmit mode, when he should have been listening. On the first occasion he was rebuked, The shadow chancellor was explaining that the since the Conservative-led government came to power wages have fallen by £1600. Low wages are at the core of the deficit problem. People on low pay quite rightly, do not pay tax. When people are having their wages driven down, it not only affects their family and quality of life, it affects the government and borrowing gets out of control.

The second time the speaker had to intervene, Ed Balls was talking about an issue that affects the Hexham constituency directly. Air passenger duty in Scotland is now devolved, Newcastle airport has to compete with Scottish airports and could be disadvantaged if central government do not act, concerns must be addressed, rather than shouted down.

The chancellor's autumn statement was an attempt to distract from the fact that he has failed in his own terms, the deficit is still growing while pay is falling. The next Labour government will be faced with some difficult decisions, but we will see a real change from the status quo. We will implement a progressive mansion tax, and use tobacco levies to properly fund our NHS and provide an integrated health and social care system. We will end exploitative zero-hours contracts and tackle low pay. The choice in May 2015 is clear, the electorate have the chance to elect a government who will build an economy that works for all, and not just the few at the top.

Egger

I had an interesting meeting with senior managers at Egger in Hexham last week to discuss the achievements and challenges faced by the company. I was accompanied by Paul Brannen one of our North East MEPs. It's great that we have two Labour MEP for the North East, Jude and Paul are have met with many of the regions main employers since they were elected and are working hard to achieve policy changes at a European level, that secure jobs and promote growth here in our region. Paul and I met with the management teams for Egger, the chipboard manufacturer and Egger forestry, which is a separate company offering a complete forest management service.

Egger has remained in a strong position, in spite of the global economic downturn, producing materials not only for the building trade but also finished products for home improvements such as laminate flooring and furniture. Two separate policy areas which could help employers like Egger and SCA paper products in Prudhoe are agriculture and skills.

The supply of high quality raw materials is vital to the business. Up to 40% of recycled wood can be used but the rest must come from sustainable sources such as Kielder forest. There is a biomass power plant on the Egger site which burns wood particles that are too fine to be incorporated into wood products but any policy that encourages burning wood before it has been used for other purposes does not help manufacturers of wood products.

The one of other challenges faced by employers is a shortage of skills; across the manufacturing sector skilled engineers are in short supply. Egger do a great job in training their own apprentices but more are needed and if I was giving careers advice I would advise young people to give careers in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths serious consideration.

Work must be done to address the skills shortage. Vocational routes are just as valid as more traditional University courses. I also think that there need to be a radical change in the way that vocational qualifications and apprenticeships are applied for. One change would be to have higher level vocational training and apprenticeships applied for via the UCAS system, so that students studying Level 3 qualifications such as A-Levels are presented with a full range of options.

It was great to join Paul for this meeting, afterwards he said;

“Egger is the jewel in the Hexham economy and is a real European success story. Not only is Egger an economic force in its own right but it brings jobs through the supply chain. It is the biggest single buyer of timber from Kielder for example. As a member of the European Agriculture and Rural Development Committee I believe that the North East is well poised to expand our rural economy and deliver growth and jobs.”

Homes for Northumberland

Planning is always a contentious issue especially in rural areas such as Northumberland and County Durham. Planners at Northumberland County council have identified the need for over 4000 new homes over the next 15 years, Planners predict that in order to meet this need, areas of land that are currently designated as green belt land will have to be used for housing.

There are several consultation meetings taking place during November where plans will be available, and residents will get a chance to have their say.

All the meetings start and finish at the same time and are in two parts:

1. Exhibition of plans 3-6pm
2. Public meeting 6.30-8.30pm

Thursday November 7: Prudhoe, Spetchells Centre, Front Street.
Tuesday November 19: Hexham, Prospect House, Hallgate.
Thursday November 21: Ponteland Memorial Hall.
Thursday November 28: Haltwhistle Library, Westgate.