The Labour Party’s spring conference was held in Gateshead recently, and it was good to spend time in the North East. I spent six busy years as the GMB’s regional secretary for the North, campaigning for jobs and the revival of shipbuilding.

The economic revival in the region is undeniably due to a Labour government – if any other party had been in power the transformation would never have happened – there would not have been the will. Let’s face it; any economic prosperity under a Tory government would have benefited the few, many miles distant. And the boom-and-bust economics of the Tories would have led, as always, to further decline for the shipyards and factories of the North.

What is also undeniable, very sadly, is that Labour has not done enough to protect the manufacturing industry. A fifth of all manufacturing jobs have been sliced away since 1997.

It’s quite true when Labour politicians say unemployment has fallen by over 800,000 since May 1997. That’s something to celebrate, but it ignores the fact that a greater number of jobs have been obliterated in the manufacturing sector.

Throughout the 1990s, and particularly since 1997, UK manufacturing has been in an apparently terminal decline. In the period from 1997 - 2004, over 800,000 UK manufacturing jobs were lost, and a further 75,000 are expected to be lost for the period 2004 - 2005.

The GMB has consistently called on the Labour government to protect the nation’s manufacturing base. State aid and state intervention are necessary to help sustain growth, as well as establish a level playing field for procurement.

At the current rate, it’s probable that the UK will have lost a million manufacturing jobs over a 10-year period by 2007, along with the skills that go with them. The North East could have lost well in excess of 50,000. Given the proud industrial tradition in regions like the North East, it’s a crying shame that more isn’t being done for the families and communities of today.

The decline of UK manufacturing has had far-reaching effects on UK society. The vast majority of the jobs lost were skilled posts, providing a decent income that covered the cost of living, while maintaining a relative degree of security for the workers’ families. As manufacturing has declined, significant growth has occurred in service economy employment as around two million new posts have been created. Good news on the face of it, but it has effectively created shifting sands for employees formerly employed in manufacturing.

Lower-paid, lower-skilled workers, with little prospect for mobility or a secure future, people who have switched from manufacturing to service employment, have had to significantly readjust their working and personal lives. On reduced earnings, the cost of living becomes greater, families enjoy less security, and the future is less certain.

From a trade union perspective, one of our main concerns, and annoyances, has been the persistent refusal by a Labour government to financially assist UK manufacturing. The UK has the lowest contribution of state aid for manufacturing in the EU15. (This data is calculated when the value of the aid is measured as a proportion of the value of the output produced by the industry.) The EU average percentage of value added was 1.5 per cent; the UK figure was only 0.6 per cent.

Few UK regions have suffered from the shockwaves greater than the North East. As the election approaches, Tony Blair would do well to reflect on that.