Riding high in the polls for the next Labour leader, Jeremy Corbyn is today making a strong bid for the battleground of the North of England.

As part of his Vision for Britain 2020 which reveal what a Britain under Jeremy Corbyn’s premiership will look like, he calls for the reindustrialisation of the UK and believes that the North of England has the right ingredients to benefit most.

“The North of England was always one of the great engines of the country’s prosperity and a world leader in invention, diligence and economic/technical excellence. We still have the same great attributes, as well as strong values of solidarity and mutual support. But the truth is that industrial decline and an economy which works more
for the City Of London than it does for the rest of the country has left the North with a legacy of underinvestment, poor competitiveness and swathes of low wages, low skills and low productivity.”

He attacks George Osborn’s Northern Powerhouse and is scathing of minister’s plans to insist on elected mayors without referenda and instead calls for an inclusive constitutional convention that can discuss the alternatives. 

Mr Corbyn argues that the Conservative government’s plans for devolution are ‘a cruel deception’ because they will be accompanied by large-scale cuts. 

He also attacks Local Enterprise Partnerships which he says cannot adequately rebalance the economy because they are too controlled by the Treasury and ‘lack the scope, capacity and scale to tackle these problems free from central government dictat.

He also questions the government’s plans to build the HS2 high-speed railway line to the north on the grounds that it will drain other lines of investment and will turn northern cities into “dormitories for London businesses

His Northern Future paper which will be launched in Leeds, says:

“There is a lack of faith in the Conservative’s Northern powerhouse agenda which combines powercuts for rail electrification with the devolution of crude cuts. Despite this, the need for reindustrialising the north of England and providing the investment and freedom to innovate and prioritise has never been stronger. There is an appetite for a real alternative and this important conversation has begun.”

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