Employment Minister calls North East's economic gap 'unacceptable' on Hebburn visit

The MP for Birkenhead, who was elected during the 2024 General Election, was joined by Jarrow and Gateshead East MP Kate Osborne for a tour of the A&P Shipbuilding plant in Hebburn.

As part of the tour, the duo spoke with apprenticeship workers on the site as well as discussing employment figures and the hopes for what is known as the ‘Covid generation’, people entering the workforce who completed their school education during the Coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdowns.

“The situation the North East is in is unacceptable to me” explained the minister when talking about regional unemployment figures.

“This is an amazing place, the shipyard here is fantastic and it’s full of brilliant, fantastic people, so it’s not acceptable to me that the North East, which has so much to offer the United Kingdom, is behind.”

Between March and May this year, the unemployment rate in the North East for those aged 16 and above was higher than the national average by 0.4%.

She added: “What I really want as minister for employment is to close that gap, because that way we can make sure our economy grows and that it grows sustainably.”

According to data released in May 2024 from the Office for National Statistics, South Tyneside has the largest unemployment rate in the North East, with 5.6% of residents outside of work.

Across the North East, from the year ending December 2022 to the year ending December 2023, there was a decrease in the unemployment rate from 4.6% to 3.9%.

“What the new Government can do, and is doing, is set out our UK industrial strategy. It sets out where we’re really going to have influence and manufactoring is a massive part of that.

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“On shipbuilding in particular, is that far too often it gets forgotten about.

“I understand the identity which comes from shipbuilding and marine engineering more broadly and the place it has in our history of this very important location.

“But actually, it’s about the future and we know that in the future we’re going to need a lot of young, skilled, talented engineers and while we’ve been through a bad time for the country, they make me feel hopeful.”

“We know we need their skills, but I think the question I have is how do we make sure those opportunities are going to people who otherwise may get overlooked or passed by. I think people in the UK have had a rough few years.

“I say this with a heavy heart, I don’t think we did our duty to that pandemic generation who came of age during that very difficult period.

“We have a new white paper on employment policy, named Get Britain Working, and young people are going to be at the centre of that because it’s about time they got a better shot at some chances in life.”