Labour seeks to address regional disparity in industrial strategy

Up-skilling the workforce and addressing regional disparities will be a crucial part of a Labour government’s industrial strategy, the shadow science minister has said at a Labour Party conference fringe event.

Chi Onwurah said that addressing these inequalities would help to “heal some of the divisions” created by Brexit and deliver prosperity across the country. “That’s how we deliver an economy that works for everyone,” the Newcastle MP told delegates at the Labour Party Conference on 23 September.

“Because, right now, we are the most regionally unequal economy in the European Union and the second most regionally unequal country in the entire OECD after Mexico,” she said. The levels of inequality are “unsustainable in terms of social cohesion and in terms of prosperity as we seek to compete on a global stage for the jobs of the future,” said Onwurah.