Clegg announces £1 billion fund for regional job growth

The third round of the Government’s Regional Growth Fund, announced by Nick Clegg, will be implemented to create or safeguard thousands of jobs over the long term, benefiting 130 projects.

The fund creates growth by leveraging £6 of private sector investment for every £1 of taxpayer money spent.

According to Clegg, this Government investment will help manufacturing firms, small businesses and local partnerships across England to expand their operations, create new jobs and stimulate growth.

Clegg explained how the fund represents a good public investment. “In tough economic times the Regional Growth Fund is good value for taxpayers’ money”, he said.

The 130 successful bidders to the fund, which will be responsible for using public money to leverage private sector investment, were chosen from an initial 414 applications through a competitive process.

These bidders will also be siphoning a significant amount of their own money into their projects, which are expected to support more than 240,000 jobs over the long term.

300,000 jobs are purportedly already being created from rounds 1 and 2 of the fund, the majority of which are being added over the next 5 years.

Clegg has already made visits to areas that have been positively affected by the fund.

“I have seen for myself the real difference this makes on the ground – from iconic businesses like Eddie Stobart expanding in Widnes and creating 3,450 jobs in the local area, to the Sunderland car parts factory Unipres who have used their funding to buy a new 3,000 tonne press, letting them accelerate production and take on an extra 316 people”, he added.

Out of the £1.05 billion pot, £697 million will go the private sector, including 101 companies. A further £358 million will go to local authorities and local enterprise partnerships to insure that investment reaches regions of the country with the most need.