Remaking the home of the First Public Steam Railway
The North East has a proud history of innovation and industry. Birthplace of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, the first public steam railway in the world, the North East was also the centre of Britain’s shipbuilding and mining industries
Today, the North East is home to some of the fastest growing industries in the UK. From cutting edge medical technology to clean energy infrastructure, the region will play a crucial role in the UK’s economic future.
Yet despite these strong foundations, earnings in the North East were the lowest in the UK in 2022.
The North East has the talent, but needs new energy and transport infrastructure to help its economy grow.
We need to get back to secure, well-paid jobs – not by returning to the industries of the past, but by looking to the future.
25
Actions to make Britain Energy secure by 2030
A playbook for energy security
From 2020 to 2022, international gas prices surged by 400%. This led to a 235% rise in household electricity bills. In other words, every £1 rise in international gas prices led to a 58p rise in the electricity bills paid by British families.
We recently published The Powerbook which includes 25 actions for energy security to stop this from happening in future.
The challenge
The price of solar, onshore wind, and offshore wind have fallen by 62%, 55%, and 75% in under a decade. The main obstacles to generating more energy from wind and solar now are a broken planning system and archaic regulation for grid connections.
It is not inevitable that it should take 12 years to build a new wind farm, 4 years to build a new solar farm, or 8 years to build a new transmission line to take energy to where it is most needed.
Let's get building
To make Britain energy secure, we will need to more than triple the amount of energy generated from offshore wind, connect two new nuclear power stations to the grid, and build more grid infrastructure in the next seven years than was built in the last 32. It will mean accelerating the development of technologies such as hydrogen, batteries, and small modular reactors.
The challenge is massive – it will require genuine political will, major investments in new technologies, and innovation from industry – but so is the reward.
GETTING THE NORTH EAST BACK TO WHAT IT’S GOOD AT
Britain Remade’s role is to act as a broker between our supporters in North East and politicians in Westminster. Britain Remade will campaign for practical ideas to improve the great towns and cities of the North East, and make sure politicians are listening.
By investing in new clean sources of electricity and reigniting the North East's industry, we can have decent jobs, affordable housing, and clean, cheaper and secure energy.
The campaign is touring around the UK and your area
A great example of this in action is Teeswork in Redcar where we visited recently.
Find out more about our campaign activity to date.
North East Calendar
Over the next year we’ll be hosting a series of events with Britain Remade supporters in the North East. Keep an eye on this page and sign-up to the campaign for updates.