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Chancellor keen to talk up East Midlands manufacturing | |
(6 days later) | |
My theory about George Osborne? He must have had a jumbo-sized train set when he was young. Trains, tracks, widgets and washers: it can be the stuff of dreams. | |
Whenever I've interviewed him, he smiles and shines at the mention of manufacturing. Little wonder he enjoys his away-days in the Midlands, both East and West. | |
The East Midlands economy shows real signs of revival. | |
We were at Boal Aluminium, a Dutch-owned manufacturer, at its UK production centre at Shepshed, near Loughborough in Leicestershire. | |
It employs 130 staff and makes very unglamorous aluminium components for the construction and automotive industries. | |
Youth unemployment | |
Thirty per cent of Boal's output is exported to the EU, but it's the UK's economic upturn that's given the business a lift. It's taking on new staff. | |
"People can see that the measures we are taking are benefiting manufacturing," the Chancellor told me. | |
"This is all part of our economic plan for greater economic resilience in this country." | |
His post-Budget visit to the East Midlands coincided with the announcement of a £36m boost to apprenticeships and youth employment prospects for Leicester and Leicestershire, under the government's City Deal. | |
"We are tackling youth unemployment," he added. | |
"We are investing in the skills of young people. And as the economy grows, that's the way to grow living standards." | |
But following his visit, a warning from Conservative-run Leicestershire County Council. | |
'Economic security' | |
On top of its current £110m funding gap, it's calculated the Chancellor's Budget will mean finding additional savings of £27.5m. That's because he extended to 2018/19, the Coalition's austerity measures. | |
The post-Budget fall-out has also included anxieties from countryside organisations over the impact of a housing boom on the green belt. George Osborne has a robust response to that. | |
"We have a planning system that protects our green belt," said the Chancellor. | |
"But it also ensures that homes can be built where people want them. | |
"This makes sure young families can afford a house and that they can have the economic security of home ownership." | |
George Osborne's parting comment to me was his praise of the makers and manufacturers of the East Midlands. | |
"It is so important that the East Midlands is making things, and that businesses are investing. | |
"That means workers here will have more economic security and there's the prospect of more jobs." | |
It's a message we can expect from now up to the General Election, unless the economic wheels come off that train set. | |
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