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6 January 2011
Last updated at 08:06 ET
Prime Minister David Cameron is promoting his economic growth plans on a visit to the North-West of England.
He is being accompanied by Lord Heseltine, recently appointed chair of a new regional growth task force.
The Tory leader is due to hit the campaign trail in Oldham East and Saddleworth, with a week to go before a crucial by-election.
He denied the Tories are soft-pedalling in the seat to give coalition partners the Lib Dems a better chance.
Mr Cameron visited a £4.5bn development in the Wirral, where he was joined by Sir Terry Leahy, the outgoing chief executive of Tesco, and other business leaders to discuss the government's new Local Enterprise Partnerships, which are being brought in to replace Regional Development Agencies.
'Credible' In a speech in Manchester, the prime minister said the coalition's top priority in the new year was economic growth.
He also spoke of the need to "rebalance" Britain's economy so that the regions grow at a faster rate - and said he was determined not take a hands-off "laissez faire" approach to business policy.
Continue reading the main story “Start Quote
And he hit back at Labour claims that his plans to cut Britain's budget deficit threatened growth, saying they were essential to restore confidence.
"Make no mistake - this government is doing everything we possibly can to drive growth and make the next decade the most dynamic and entrepreneurial in our history," he told an audience of business leaders.
Mr Cameron encouraged firms to bid for money from the £1.4bn Regional Growth Fund, announced in November to boost private sector growth in parts of England likely to be hardest hit by public sector job cuts.
Lord Heseltine, who is in charge of the fund, said it was now "open for business" and he would be holding a series of roadshows across England to encourage "high quality" bids from entrepreneurs. The first bidding round ends on 21 January.
The former deputy prime minister stressed that his committee would be taking a "hard-nosed" attitude to the bidding process and the money would only go to schemes which offered "sustainable" private sector jobs rather than temporary boosts.
And although the money is available throughout England "there will be parts of the country that find it very difficult to qualify" as it will be focused on areas that are currently dependant on the public sector for employment.
'Too far' He also revealed that he was in talks with the four main High Street banks to find a way of getting cash from the fund to smaller scale entrepreneurs.
At the moment, the minimum bid is £1m but Lord Heseltine said he wanted to be able to give that cash to the banks to distribute to their customers.
Labour said it hoped Mr Cameron's plans would work - but accused the coalition of going "too far and too fast" in its efforts to cut Britain's budget deficit and of lacking a "credible" growth strategy.
Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Douglas Alexander told the BBC News Channel: "His only growth strategy seems to be a deficit reduction strategy.
"The rate of jobs being taken out of the public sector won't match jobs coming from the private sector."
Mr Cameron will join the campaign trail in Oldham East with Conservative candidate Kashif Ali later, a sign, he says, of how seriously he is taking the contest.
He defended his "warm words" about the Liberal Democrat candidate, saying "We are working together, so some of the normal political discourse between our two parties is carried out in a slightly more gentle way than it has been up to now."
But he insisted the Conservatives would be "fighting very hard for every vote" at the by-election, adding: "Far from taking some sort of laid back attitude, I would make the point that I think I am the first prime minister in over a decade to visit an English by-election."
Public anger The Liberal Democrats are in need of a boost after they registered the lowest opinion poll rating in their history in the wake of public anger over their U-turn on tuition fees.
Paying his second visit to the constituency on Wednesday, Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg said his party were "here to win".
Labour leader Ed Miliband, who was in the constituency on Monday to support the party's candidate Debbie Abrahams, is hoping to capitalise on public anger over this week's VAT rise and government cuts.
At the general election Labour's Phil Woolas got 31.9% of votes and Lib Dem Elwyn Watkins 31.6%, with Conservative Mr Ali getting 26.4%. The BNP got 5.7% of votes, UKIP 3.9% and the Christian Party 0.5%.
But the result was declared void by a special election court, which found Mr Woolas had lied about Mr Watkins in election literature.
Mr Woolas was stripped of his seat, expelled by the Labour Party and banned from standing for election for three years.
The full list of candidates (in alphabetical order) is:
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He is being accompanied by Lord Heseltine, recently appointed chair of a new regional growth task force.
The Tory leader is due to hit the campaign trail in Oldham East and Saddleworth, with a week to go before a crucial by-election.
He denied the Tories are soft-pedalling in the seat to give coalition partners the Lib Dems a better chance.
Mr Cameron visited a £4.5bn development in the Wirral, where he was joined by Sir Terry Leahy, the outgoing chief executive of Tesco, and other business leaders to discuss the government's new Local Enterprise Partnerships, which are being brought in to replace Regional Development Agencies.
'Credible' In a speech in Manchester, the prime minister said the coalition's top priority in the new year was economic growth.
He also spoke of the need to "rebalance" Britain's economy so that the regions grow at a faster rate - and said he was determined not take a hands-off "laissez faire" approach to business policy.
Continue reading the main story “Start Quote
The rate of jobs being taken out of the public sector won't match jobs coming from the private sector”
End Quote
Douglas Alexander
Shadow work and pensions secretary
And he hit back at Labour claims that his plans to cut Britain's budget deficit threatened growth, saying they were essential to restore confidence.
"Make no mistake - this government is doing everything we possibly can to drive growth and make the next decade the most dynamic and entrepreneurial in our history," he told an audience of business leaders.
Mr Cameron encouraged firms to bid for money from the £1.4bn Regional Growth Fund, announced in November to boost private sector growth in parts of England likely to be hardest hit by public sector job cuts.
Lord Heseltine, who is in charge of the fund, said it was now "open for business" and he would be holding a series of roadshows across England to encourage "high quality" bids from entrepreneurs. The first bidding round ends on 21 January.
The former deputy prime minister stressed that his committee would be taking a "hard-nosed" attitude to the bidding process and the money would only go to schemes which offered "sustainable" private sector jobs rather than temporary boosts.
And although the money is available throughout England "there will be parts of the country that find it very difficult to qualify" as it will be focused on areas that are currently dependant on the public sector for employment.
'Too far' He also revealed that he was in talks with the four main High Street banks to find a way of getting cash from the fund to smaller scale entrepreneurs.
At the moment, the minimum bid is £1m but Lord Heseltine said he wanted to be able to give that cash to the banks to distribute to their customers.
Labour said it hoped Mr Cameron's plans would work - but accused the coalition of going "too far and too fast" in its efforts to cut Britain's budget deficit and of lacking a "credible" growth strategy.
Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Douglas Alexander told the BBC News Channel: "His only growth strategy seems to be a deficit reduction strategy.
"The rate of jobs being taken out of the public sector won't match jobs coming from the private sector."
Mr Cameron will join the campaign trail in Oldham East with Conservative candidate Kashif Ali later, a sign, he says, of how seriously he is taking the contest.
He defended his "warm words" about the Liberal Democrat candidate, saying "We are working together, so some of the normal political discourse between our two parties is carried out in a slightly more gentle way than it has been up to now."
But he insisted the Conservatives would be "fighting very hard for every vote" at the by-election, adding: "Far from taking some sort of laid back attitude, I would make the point that I think I am the first prime minister in over a decade to visit an English by-election."
Public anger The Liberal Democrats are in need of a boost after they registered the lowest opinion poll rating in their history in the wake of public anger over their U-turn on tuition fees.
Paying his second visit to the constituency on Wednesday, Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg said his party were "here to win".
Labour leader Ed Miliband, who was in the constituency on Monday to support the party's candidate Debbie Abrahams, is hoping to capitalise on public anger over this week's VAT rise and government cuts.
At the general election Labour's Phil Woolas got 31.9% of votes and Lib Dem Elwyn Watkins 31.6%, with Conservative Mr Ali getting 26.4%. The BNP got 5.7% of votes, UKIP 3.9% and the Christian Party 0.5%.
But the result was declared void by a special election court, which found Mr Woolas had lied about Mr Watkins in election literature.
Mr Woolas was stripped of his seat, expelled by the Labour Party and banned from standing for election for three years.
The full list of candidates (in alphabetical order) is:
- Debbie Abrahams (Labour)
- Derek Adams (British National Party)
- Kashif Ali (Conservative)
- Peter Allen (Green Party)
- David Bishop (Bus-Pass Elvis Party)
- The Flying Brick (Monster Raving Loony Party)
- Loz Kaye (Pirate Party of the United Kingdom)
- Stephen Morris (English Democrats)
- Paul Nuttall MEP (UK Independence Party)
- Elwyn Watkins (Liberal Democrats)
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