Regional growth fund will create thousands of new jobs, says Nick Clegg
Deputy PM says latest 950m from regional growth fund will lead to 'snowball effect' creating growth
The deputy prime minister, Nick Clegg, has said the government's regional growth fund will provide a "snowball effect that creates hundreds of thousands of jobs".
Clegg outlined the second tranche of regional growth fund investment worth 950m and said it would ensure taxpayers get "more bang for our bucks" by creating growth and reducing dependence on the financial services sector.
He said the funds would create or safeguard 325,000 jobs, and rejected criticism of the length of time it has been taking for the cash to reach businesses.
"What we're trying to do is invest public money, taxpayers' money, into companies which can create jobs that last," Clegg told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
The regional growth fund, announced by the government in June 2010, has been criticised by Labour because so few companies have yet to receive money from the scheme.
The deputy prime minister said it was a "rather old-fashioned view" for businesses to believe nothing could start to happen until a Whitehall official turned up and signed a cheque, suggesting that approval for projects was enough to give businesses the green light.
"As long as government says, through the regional growth fund, [that] you will get this money, the companies have then been able to get on and buy the new equipment, take on the new apprentices, create the new jobs," he said.
"And that has been happening already in over 50% of the projects that have been approved."
He claimed that, for every 1 of taxpayers' cash invested, the private sector would match it with an estimated 6, making public spending "go much further".
In a separate move, David Cameron promised an "all-out mission" to kickstart major infrastructure projects and get the economy moving.
Growth figures for the third quarter of this year are expected to show growth after nine flat months, but the M! arch bud get projection of 1.7% annual growth is still unlikely to be reached.
Writing in the Financial Times, the prime minister admitted the eurozone crisis was having a "chilling effect" on global growth and warned that there were no shortcuts to success.
But he urged people to be optimistic, saying pessimism and fear "can become self-fulfilling prophecies".
"The eurozone crisis has added to the unprecedented pressures facing the global economy," he wrote.
"But, in spite of the difficulties, I am confident that we can both resolve the crises at hand and come through them with an economy that is stronger and fundamentally fairer. I passionately believe that the global economy is presenting us with opportunities, not threats and we must seize them."
Clegg also reiterated his belief that Britain staying at the centre of EU decision-making was essential to jobs and growth. Writing in the Observer, he warned the UK faced "economic suicide" if it retreated to the sidelines of EU policymaking.
Speaking on Today, Clegg said he was committed to reform of the EU but opposed to any move that would leave Britain isolated. The coalition's duty was to "get the best out of the European Union, not get out of the European Union", he said.
"I don't support the European Union and Britain's role in it for its own sake I think it's absolutely essential for jobs and growth in this country," he added. "There are 3 million people whose jobs rely directly on our participation.
"I'm strongly in favour of reform of the European Union. Reform yes, isolation no. Why? Because isolation costs people's livelihoods."
He said the "urgent, overriding national priority" for the coalition should be to promote jobs and growth, adding: "We do that by being in the centre of the argument, not on the outer fringes of the argument in Europe.
"The last thing we shoul! d do is betray our own history and our own traditions by turning inwards and isolating ourselves from the outside world."
Comments