“A budget that will give a big boost to Teesside’s people and industries”.  That was the instant reaction of Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland Labour MP, Ashok Kumar, after Chancellor Alistair Darling unveiled his 2009 budget.

Ashok said “This was a redistributive budget which will see the top rate of income tax will rise to 50p in the pound, not 45p in the pound as planned, and from next year, thus raising an extra £6bn by 2012.  These new funds from the pockets of the very well-off will help those who most need help.  It will be good news for young people leaving school in July as there will be new cash to  boost funding for six-form colleges and – overall – there will  be a spend of more than £260m on training and subsidies to help young people get work in sectors with strong future demand.”

“There will be extra support for people out of work for 12 months through the flexible New Deal and a new guarantee: that from January, everyone under 25 who has been out of work for 12 months will get a job or training.”

“In addition local families will gain when, from April next year, there will be a £20 increase in the child tax credit, and an increase in the child trust fund by £100.”

“The Chancellor also made important announcements that will help local industry on Teesside. Pledges to boost the modernisation of the nation’s rail network and to boost the building of energy conscious new housing will mean new orders for the steel and construction sectors, while the new emphasis on the need to see the Oil and Gas reserves in the North Sea are tapped, and that there will be a real start on the building of carbon capture power stations – with the CO2 sequestered in depleted wells in the North Sea  - is a real boost for Teesside”

“There are local power station projects in the wings which can now be seen as real bidders for construction, and those companies that came together in the ‘Teesside Alliance’ to bid for construction projects for oil and gas rigs and pipeline work now have a whole new chance in front of them.”