Budget ‘will back Yorkshire business’ - Shapps

Conservative Party chairman Grant Shapps admitted there was still work to be done to secure growth for the North and ensure it is not left behind by other parts of the country.

The Tories need to defend a string of seats in the region, and pick up more, to stand a chance of governing alone after the next General Election.

George Osborne’s Budget tomorrow will set the tone for the final year of the Coalition Government and signal the key message the Conservatives will take to the electorate in 2015.

Mr Shapps told the Yorkshire Post: “I want to see a Budget that is good for jobs that carries on doing what’s been happening.

“I know there are 117,000 more people in jobs in Yorkshire and Humber than there were in the last election so so that is security for their families, pay packets to take home.

“I want to see the Budget carry on that good work and also back the people of Yorkshire who are in my mind some of the most entrepreneurial in the country.”

Mr Shapps said two private sector jobs had been created in Yorkshire for every one lost in the public sector.

“All this kind of scaremongering that if you scale the state the public sector if you do all of that you’ll be leaving people on the dole that’s completely untrue.

“I do totally accept the point which is there is much more to do and that’s why I make the point, don’t turn back halfway, it’s been very painful getting this far, let’s finish the job and make sure we can secure the future for families.”

The party chairman also rejected reports that the Conservatives had given up on the North after figures showed the party was not receiving donations in even marginal seats.

“It’s completely and utterly untrue. I’m doing a 1,000 mile tour in the North on Thursday and Friday this week immediately after the Budget,” he said.

“We have an enormous number of very good Members of Parliament, yes we want to win more seats and by the way we are hoping to convince people across the country - North, South, East and West - and certainly Yorkshire is a big part of our plan.”

Thirsk and Malton MP Anne McIntosh was recently deselected by the party and has suggested she might fight the 2015 election as an independent promising to take the Tory whip.

Mr Shapps said: “I think Anne has been a tremendously hardworking MP, well respected in the House, but it is the decision of local people whether they want somebody to be their candidate or not.

“What Anne does next is entirely her business. I’m an MP too, I know how this feels, it is not a mystery to me, but in the end democracy sometimes throws up the answer you didn’t necessarily want but you still have to go with democracy and I think it’s right that process should be allowed to play itself out.”