What people have said about the Tory Idea

“These people do not know what they are talking about. Our region has the fastest growth rate in England, no region has worked harder to help itself than the North East of England.

"If these people really are advising David Cameron, then God help us if we ever get another Conservative government." Rt. Hon. Nick Brown MP, Minister for the North East and Newcastle upon Tyne East & Wallsend MP

“This report is totally bonkers. To suggest that we can successfully restore Sunderland’s fortunes by encouraging people to leave the city defies logic. I very much doubt the authors have ever visited Sunderland because if they had they would know that the city is going from strength to strength. You only have to look at the Aquatic Centre and the new housing projects to see the ambition of Sunderland. It’s a Tory think tank behind this report and it reminds me of when Norman Tebbit told us all to get on our bikes, we didn’t listen to them then and we won’t listen to them now." Sharon Hodgson MP, Gateshead & Washington West

"People ought to be promoting and bigging-up the city, not talking it down in this way .For people in London to come out and effectively write-off the city is just ignorance." Fraser Kemp MP, Houghton & Washington West MP

"As a resident of Sunderland I am appalled and shocked by the remarks of this Tory think tank.In the last ten years Sunderland has made amazing progress.  Superior NHS
facilities, world class University, huge improvement in our schools, world leader Nissan and of course our Premiership team!  We can boast a new aquatic centre of Olympic quality, an Air Show that is the biggest in Europe and the recent addition to the Tyneside Metro means our city iseven more accessible and attractive to visitors.

It is irritating to discover this think tank has never visited Sunderland!The author even admitted that his ideas were "barmy"and yet David Cameron still allowed the report to be published!  How many more "insane"ideas does he have up his sleeve?
It is typical of Tory strategists to denigrate the success story that is Sunderland." Imeda Heggie, Fulwell, Sunderland

I am extremely proud of the north.  To hear them say that we should just ‘give up on’ where I live is not only insulting - it’s an absolute joke!  Mike Symes, County Durham.

"I've recently moved up to the north east from Hampshire and I'm loving it. To say that the north has lost allreason for being is ridiculous. It's just further proof that the Conservatives are only interested in defending the interests of a small privileged section of society at the expense of the hard working majority. Instead of concentrating on renewing and improving northern areas, the Tories are quite content to ignore the issues and neglect the people who live there." Ali Craft, Middlesbrough

 "The idea that people should move South in search of employment has been tried in to past without success. This policy would mean the young and the highly skilled leave the North with devastating results.  It would be much better to train more people in places like Liverpool and Middlesbrough toimprove the competitiveness of these cities.  Such a strategy has improved places like Guisborough dramatically over the last decade.  The think tank's ideas are very short sighted." Bill Suthers, Economist, Teeside University and Guisborough resident

“Policy Exchange has served as a reminder of the way regions such as the North East were shamefully neglected under previous Conservative administrations - and how a decade of regeneration under Labour has made a tangible difference.” The Northern Echo

“...the pomposity behind such reports is breathtaking.” Sunderland Echo

This report is indicative of much of the thinking in David Cameron's Toryranks. For most of them, as well as for many in the media and businessn classes, it is places like Teesside and Sunderland that representtoday's faraway countries of which little is known.

We have long memories in this area. Despite Mrs Thatcher's celebrated walk on the wasteland in Thornaby, the Tories of her time gave every impression of not caring for  the North.  After all, we did not make money in the city, we did not aspire to move up to live in mock Georgian houses in theSurrey countryside and to compound these sins, we generally voted against the Conservative Party.

Under Mrs Thatcher, and later under John Major, crucial financial and policy decisions were made which suited the City rather than the manufacturing industry. Mining, shipbuilding  and steelmaking was decimated and then decimated again, not because the destruction of these industries was in Britain's interest, but because putting an organised working class in its place was a key priority of those governments.

And although David Cameron tries to project a new, clean, Tory image, the report from Policy Exchange shows that, under the skin, they have changedlittle, if at all.They cannot understand that the free market does still operate in the North East, and it is actually delivering.  On Teesside we now have one of the worlds leading centres for cutting edge chemical manufacturing  and that has been led by the private sector.

But on this occasion the bright boys of Policy Exchange ignore these realities.  They are a long way removed from their conception of the market, which appear to revolve around the wine bar economy of central London and the leafy suburbs.

Locally, and with much appreciated government help, the market is delivering.  But beware.  If David Cameron does get his hands on the levers of power, it will be these same "teenage scribblers"  as a former Tory Chancellor Nigel Lawson called them in 1988 -  who will be suggesting the direction of his economic policy. And if that were to occur, then beware Teesside. Ashok Kumar MP, Middlesbrough South & East Cleveland.

WHAT ARE YOUR VIEWS ON THE TORY IDEA AND WHAT MAKES YOU PROUD OF THE NORTH. LET US KNOW ON OUR FORUM >