Investment, Please.

MEP calls for 'investment not empty words' on joblessness. Jonathan Arnott MEP says the latest unemployment figures for the North East - showing it is still the highest in the country - demonstrate the ongoing need for investment in the region.

Official figures released today show that the national unemployment rate is 4.9% but in the North East it is 7.5% with the number of jobless up by 3,000 to 98,000 between May and July.

It is just not good enough for the government to keep muttering about the 'Northern Powerhouse' as if that is some magic panacea.

We need to see it put into action now - as these latest figures show. Empty words and promises mean nothing.

I have repeatedly urged action to improve job prospects in the region and I don’t want to sound like a broken record but empty words don’t put food on the table.

The difference between the North East and the UK average is now more than five times greater than it was a decade ago."

– JONATHAN ARNOTT MEP