'We want to unlock the North East's potential'

CHANCELLOR Rachel Reeves insists the Government is committed to “unlocking the potential” of the North East despite her party taking a battering at last week's local elections.

- GRAEME WHITFIELD

Ms Reeves - who was in the North East to announce a £1bn Government-led investment that will help create 1,000 jobs at the AESC electric vehicle battery plant in Sunderland - admitted last week's local election results in the North East had been disappointing for Labour.

The party lost seats in both Northumberland and County Durham, with Durham seeing the party's number of councillors being reduced to just four on a council that it had previously run for a century.

The Chancellor said that the Government had protected and created hundreds of jobs in the North East, including interventions to save the Hitachi factory in County Durham and funding for the the planned Crown Works studio in Sunderland.

But she rejected calls for the Government to change course on controversial plans to reduce PIP payments for disabled people, despite a number of North East MPs saying they will oppose the moves when they come to Parliament.