Labour MPs warn Burnham's reindustrialisation plan risks failure without No 10 North drive

Key facts

• MPs warn the state has lost capacity and knowledge about the economy and businesses.
• The group calls for a new Reindustrialisation Act with clear job creation targets.
• They urge the PM to give oversight of reindustrialisation to Louise Haigh, based at No 10 North.
• The National Wealth Fund should be transformed into a Reindustrialisation Development Corporation.

More than 90 Labour backbench MPs are warning Prime Minister Andy Burnham that his pledge to reindustrialise Britain risks failure unless it is driven decisively from his new No 10 North outpost in Manchester. The MPs argue that decades of deindustrialisation and deregulation have left the state lacking the detailed understanding of industry needed for such a plan to succeed. They are calling for a new Reindustrialisation Act with clear job creation targets and for ministers to be held accountable. The briefing paper urges the PM to assign oversight of reindustrialisation to first secretary Louise Haigh, based at No 10 North, and to transform the National Wealth Fund into a Reindustrialisation Development Corporation.