General election: David Cameron pledges to close north-south gap

David Cameron will on Friday attempt to woo floating voters in northern marginal seats by issuing a "landmark pledge" to close the growth gap between the north and south of England.

The prime minister will tell his audience that the region is about to enter its "most exciting" economic period "since the industrial revolution" should his party win the election next week in an all-out attempt to secure crucial votes.

"My message to everyone in the north is simple: the Conservative party is the party for you," Mr Cameron will say in a rally in Yorkshire.

"What I am pledging here is nothing less than the most important commitment to the north for decades: we're going to close the north-south gap."

The meat of the prime minister's speech will be a series of re-announcements of policies designed to deliver a "northern surge" - such as expanding the M62 motorway and electrifying the rail line from Hull to Selby.

Mr Osborne has pledged to build a "northern powerhouse" as an alternative to London, connecting northern cities. It could include a fast train line between Liverpool and Newcastle, halving east-west journey times, as well as wider roads and investment in science.

He has also handed Greater Manchester £1bn and control of £6bn health and social care spending with the promise of more powers to follow.

The four-point plan to be announced on Friday reiterates this vision, pledging to invest in transport infrastructure; science and technology in the north; deliver more apprenticeships for the region and giving more economic power to local communities

With the polls still deadlocked, the Conservatives are stepping up efforts to swing votes in a string of Labour/Tory marginals across the region.

Mr Cameron and Mr Osborne have been barrelling along the M62 and M6 motorways in recent days: the chancellor was pulling pints in Keighley, West Yorkshire on Tuesday, while Mr Cameron spent Thursday in Leeds.

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Jon Tonge, professor of politics at Liverpool university, said most of these affluent areas should be safe seats for the Conservatives and were in the 1980s. They are still a "toxic brand" in the north, he said.

The northern economy is now growing faster than the south after a much slower recovery but house prices and wage levels have yet to return to the pre-recession peak.

Meanwhile, private sector jobs in the old industrial areas have grown at a tenth of the rate seen in London and the southeast, while public sector jobs have been lost at a faster pace.

Mary Creagh, the outgoing Labour MP for Wakefield, told a BBC election debate this week that council cuts had hit the north hardest. "The Tories are no friends of the north," she said.

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