Sunderland reacts to Chancellor's Autumn Statement

Wearside political and business leaders have been responding to the Chancellor's Autumn Statement.

Jeremy Hunt announced tax cuts, tighter welfare rules and further measures aimed at getting more people into work in the speech, delivered to the Commons today.

Measures include a cut on employee national insurance will be cut from 12% to 10% from January 6, raising universal credit, pensions and the national living wage, and freezing alcohol duty.

Sunderland Central MP Julie Elliott said today's announcement would do little for Wearside: "The measures announced in today’s autumn statement will not fix the years of damage done by this Conservative Government to our economy. Today’s statement will not improve the lives of people in Sunderland." she said.

"Prices are still rising, mortgages and rent are rising, and debt is rising. The Conservative cost-of-living crisis is still going on.

"What this statement does show is a Government out of ideas, who have no idea how to get out of the economic mess they have created.

"Only a Labour Government can do that. We need a Labour Government, now.

Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner Kim McGuinness said the statement demonstrated that 'as far as the Chancellor is concerned, the North East is invisible'.

"While other regions are being signed up to new devolution deals and powerful funding pots, the North East didn't even get a mention in his hour-long speech," she said. "Buried in the detail is simply a promise our turn will come.

"We have to end this Government's trickle down, incremental approach to devolution.

"We need a radical plan to drag power out of Whitehall and hand it back to people in the North East.

"As the first North East Mayor I will be fighting for an ambitious new deal to let the North East take control of its own destiny. We need full control over our spending, our railways, including local control of train stations and the power to kick out failing train operators.

"We need to scrap quangos like the Arts Council and Homes England and let directly elected mayors invest those funds in everything from the local cultural economy to building the greenest homes in the country.

"The people of the North East are fed up of being told what is best for them by this Tory Government. We want the power to take our own decisions and chart our own future.

"The Chancellor was happy to invest in his Tory mayor in Teesside, but the choice to ignore the North East won't go unnoticed by the people of our region."

Easington MP Grahame Morris said: “The Autumn Statement is a re-run of the thirteen years of failure that has left our country and communities poorer.

"The Government have blocked levelling up funding to County Durham, wages in the North East lack behind other regions, and we are still paying excessive tax rates.

"We need real and meaningful change, and I will once again highlight to the Chancellor the need to abolish the unfair and harmful Council Tax in favour of a Proportional Property Tax.

"This reform would lower taxes for 100% of households in East Durham, with the average saving being £900 a year.

"This would be a real and meaningful change, that would lower taxes, support levelling up, and strengthen our local economy.

"We have a distracted government, more worried about their electoral prospects than the issues our country is facing."

The head of the region's leading business organisation was less than impressed.

John McCabe, chief executive at the North East Chamber of Commerce, said: £This was supposed to be an Autumn Statement for growth but once you get beyond the well-trailed headlines, North East businesses will be left wondering if there's enough here to heal the pain they've felt over many years.

"The main measures – cuts to business taxes including maintaining some business rate reliefs and an increase in the National Living Wage – were a positive start. Making full expensing of investment costs permanent was an important win for the British Chambers of Commerce network and especially medium and larger businesses.

"But after two years of challenging inflation, which is still a long way from the Bank of England’s 2% target, it remains to be seen if the Chancellor’s plans will deliver the long-term boost needed for every business across the region.

"It was good to see positive progress on the new North East Mayoral Combined Authority, with the government reaffirming its commitment to trailblazer status. We will continue to provide full support to our local authority leaders as they work with government to enable the deal to become legislation before the end of the year.

"We welcome the £4.5billion investment in key sectors such as green energy, hydrogen, life sciences, and carbon capture, utilisation and storage, as these will be significant drivers of growth and jobs in our region.

"However, government must ensure that research and development expenditure in these sectors also comes to the regions and is not focused primarily on the 'golden triangle'.

"The extension of tax reliefs for Freeports and Investment Zones from five to ten years is also welcome, as is the continued development of two Investment Zone proposals for the area.

"But the lack of a long-term strategy for the funding of crucial public services continues to be a big brake on growth for our region and a major area of concern for our members.

"As outlined in our new policy plan, we will keep advocating for a stronger, fairer North East underpinned by more powers and more investment, reminding the Chancellor we’re here for the long-term.”