Monks: cash plea

John Monks has called on the chancellor to deliver a £900 million investment package to tackle areas hit by industrial decline and high unemployment.

Calling on the Gordon Brown to tackle the UK's productivity gap, the TUC chief is calling for "smart support" for regions which are failing to share in economic prosperity.

Monks is calling for a "significant increase" in regional development budgets.

He wants to see an additional £540 million being spent through regional development agencies and is calling for a further £40 million to tackle joblessness in unemployment blackspots.

"We want to see a world class British industry created through effective and targeted investment to tackle our productivity gap,'' he says today.

"Old style subsidies and setting an objective of simply treading water will result in us slipping further behind.

"We need smart support to give us a high wage, hi-tech manufacturing sector that will trail blaze 'made in Britain' across the globe."