Clegg launches jobs plan
Nick Clegg has pledged to create 100,000 new jobs in England under the first round of the Regional Growth Fund.
The deputy prime minister said £450m would be invested in businesses across the country in an attempt to promote growth.
"This money will now help create and safeguard jobs in some of the communities worst hit by the economic downturn," he said.
"Today is a step towards rebalancing our economy away from an unhealthy over-reliance on a small number of industries and a few areas."
The Lib Dem leader will launch the scheme in Manchester today as the leader of the the Lib Dems in Liverpool has called on him pull out of the coalition.
Warren Bradley, council leader until last year's election, said he was "tired of defending the indefensible" and urged Clegg to act "before we disappear into the annals of history".
Also in Liverpool today health minister Anne Milton will address the Royal College of Nursing conference amid continued controversy over the government's health care reforms.
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