'Northern powerhouse' can lead to Tory gains in north, minister says
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Version 0 of 1. Just because protesters in Manchester are calling Conservative party conference delegates “Tory scum” doesn’t mean the party can’t succeed in the north of England, the minister for the northern powerhouse has said. James Wharton, the MP for Stockton South in the north-east, was promoted to junior minister after the general election in May. He said the success of the “northern powerhouse” — the Tory plan to bring together the great cities of the north as a counterpoint not just to London but to other global cities — could convert voters in areas of northern England where the Tory brand is currently toxic. “I think if we deliver on this agenda, if we can demonstrate that we are doing things for the north of England because it’s the right thing to do, not for some political construct, then people will recognise that and potentially will go on to reward us for it,” he said at a conference fringe meeting in Manchester on Monday. “People often look at me and say: ‘what, you got elected in Stockton? But they hate Tories up there don’t they?’,” said Wharton, as boos and jeers filtered through the windows of the Central Library from the protesters outside. “Actually, there are a lot of Conservative MPs in the north, but we want more. The narrative that sometimes people like to portray is a black and white simplistic one. There are people outside I suspect who do quite dislike Conservatives. But I would put forward the argument that the people outside are not representative of a very large group in society, in the electorate.” The Conservatives currently have no MPs in Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Middlesbrough or Hull. George Osborne, the chancellor and MP for Tatton in Cheshire, is the only cabinet member with a northern English seat — unless you count Patrick McLoughlin, the transport secretary, who represents Derbyshire Dales, which are officially in the Midlands. Wharton, who does not attend cabinet, is still only 31, having become youngest MP in the 2010 intake. He said the northern powerhouse concept would be the “thread” running through the current parliament. It had the best chance to succeed, having been invented and championed by Osborne, he added: “It has perhaps the most powerful possible sponsor in George Osborne. This is not just a project he has entirely bought into. It’s a project that he effectively originated. The drive comes from the treasury, which is perhaps the most all-pervasive of all the government departments in that it touches on everything every other department wishes to do.” Much of Osborne’s conference speech on Monday was devoted to his “northern powerhouse” baby, despite the chancellor admitting: “I don’t know if it will work.” Wharton said other ministers were now scrabbling around to find a “northern powerhouse” angle to their own pet projects, having cottoned on to the fact that to do so increased their chances of getting the treasury green light. “When ministers come to see me to ask about the northern powerhouse sometimes it’s because they gave grasped it and are excited by it and want to be part of it. Sometimes it’s because they have recognised that in difficult financial times where there isn’t much money about, if a project that you want to promote has a northern powerhouse angle to it, there is an additional opportunity to get a hearing from the treasury to put that idea forward,” he said, adding: “That might sound like a minor thing, but it’s crucially important in the way that government runs. The fact that this project has buy-in at the very highest level from someone who wants to drive it, that understands the challenges faced by the economy, means that it has very much more chance of success than some of those who oppose it might like to lead you to believe.” |