by Marcus Barnett

NOWHERE has been hit harder by Tory cuts than the North, shadow chancellor John McDonnell told Labour activists at the weekend.

Speaking at the party’s north-west regional conference in Southport, Mr McDonnell is expected to say: “Our country has had a Conservative decade of decline inflicted on it.

“Nowhere has been hit harder by the Conservatives’ cuts, neglect and lack of investment than the North.

“From what we have heard from Boris Johnson and Dominic Cummings so far, we face the risk of a decade of disappointment to follow.”

Mr McDonnell will also discuss the “supposed red wall” of safe Labour seats that the Tories won in the December 2019 general election, noting that the government’s “cuts, neglect and lack of investment” would infuriate voters.

Mentioning his own Merseyside heritage, he will warn the PM and his chief adviser Dominic Cummings that they should be “worried” about “the red mist that will engulf people in the North when they see just how let down they are by the Conservatives.”

“Austerity was always a political choice not an economic necessity. The Conservatives chose to cut rather than invest,” he will say.

“Cuts in our public services have caused immense harm and suffering, hitting everybody, with the most vulnerable hit the hardest.

“Failure to invest in our infrastructure has held our country back just at the time investment was needed to modernise our economy and tackle climate change.

“Failure to invest fairly outside of London and the South East has resulted in stark regional inequality.

“We need a budget that ends austerity and a long-term investment plan that invests in our infrastructure across the whole country to provide the homes, railways and alternative energy sources we need to tackle climate change.”

The Morning Star understands that with 800 registered attendees, the regional conference will be one of the biggest  in the party’s history.

Speakers include shadow attorney general Shami Chakrabarti, shadow housing minister John Healey and shadow communities minister Andrew Gwynne, as well as newly elected MPs Charlotte Nichols (Warrington North) and Kim Johnson (Liverpool Riverside).

A fringe meeting held today by pro-Corbyn campaigning group Momentum will see Ms Nichols speak alongside Stockport MP Navendu Mishra and leading NEC left-wing candidate Leigh Drennan