Chancellor John Healey pledged a "new age of industrialisation" as he addressed the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool this afternoon, announcing a £100m fund for local mayors to boost apprenticeships and confirming a £300m investment by Rolls-Royce in British factories.
Hundreds of people gathered to hear Mr Healey speak, ahead of Prime Minister Andy Burnham addressing the conference for the first time as Labour leader tomorrow afternoon. The Chancellor's speech focused on industrialisation, apprenticeships, and economic growth, with two major maritime projects forming part of the plans.
Budget and economic growth
Mr Healey will deliver his first Budget on Wednesday October 28. He previously said: "This will be a Budget that moves money and power out of Westminster, and into every postcode around Britain. It will be built on fiscal discipline."
In his speech, he said: "Through the core of the Budget I deliver a month today will be fiscal discipline, to give families and businesses a bit of breathing space, to drive good growth and jobs in more places and to write a new chapter of hope for Britain's future."
Plan to get young people into work
The Chancellor announced a new £100m fund for local mayors to boost apprenticeships, promising to help young people move from "generation jeopardy to generation hope" by improving job prospects.
He said: "It is not progressive to allow a bigger and bigger benefits bill, and a system which offers an income but doesn't offer a future. So once again, as a Labour government, it falls to us to act. And this is more than just an economic must. This is a moral duty. I refuse to write off a million young people like the Tories have done."
Mr Healey described the service as "a down payment" on the work of former cabinet minister Alan Milburn to tackle the almost one million young people not in employment, education or training (Neet).
Maritime projects and Rolls-Royce investment
The government has backed British shipyards with a multi-billion pound investment in three major maritime projects to strengthen national security, support skilled jobs and drive growth in every part of the UK. The Chancellor confirmed three new floating docks for the Royal Navy's submarine service at HM Naval Base Clyde will be built in Britain, along with a new marine research vessel to be built in a British shipyard.
Mr Healey said: "They'll build the new docks for the new submarines that will defend us all for decades to come, built in Britain by British workers because of the decisions of this Labour government."
The Chancellor also announced that Rolls-Royce will invest £300m in plants in Derby, Bristol, Glasgow and Rotherham. He told the conference: "In Derby, where they made the Spitfire engines, Rolls-Royce now build nuclear reactors and put the UK at the front of clean energy globally. And so today I can announce that Rolls-Royce will invest an extra £300m pounds into its British factories in Derby, in Bristol, in Glasgow and in Rotherham."
Union Learning Fund re-established
The Government is to re-establish the Union Learning Fund, used by trade unions to promote workplace training and lifelong learning. Mr Healey told the conference that the fund will be "reborn" after it was abolished by the Conservatives five years ago, and that it used to help 180,000 workers gain new skills.
