General election candidates for North Ayrshire and Arran talk about regeneration

Levels of unemployment – and in particular jobless under 25-year-olds – is well above the national average.

We asked the General Election candidates how their party’s policies would tackle economic regeneration and boost jobs for young people.

Katy Clark (Labour) Kicking out the Tories and getting a Labour government is the first step to a better future for young workers and the local economy in North Ayrshire Labour has a set of policies that will help build a fairer economy. Young people who are unemployed for a year will be guaranteed a job or training, paid for by a tax on bankers’ bonuses. Legislation will end the exploitative culture of zero-hour contracts that keep 84,000 Scots in the dark about their working hours. Tax rebates for small businesses will push up wages to at least the Living Wage.

These concrete policies are part of Labour’s economic plan that will start to regenerate the Ayrshire economy. We can end the austerity I have consistently fought against, and invest in high-skilled employment for the next generation.

To take these steps to a better future, we need a Labour government. If Scottish constituencies like North Ayrshire and Arran don’t return a Labour MP, the polls show that another Tory government is much more likely. Voting for any other party risks the hardship of another Tory government that Scotland can’t afford.

After five years it’s clear that putting burden on hard-up families will never create the jobs we need. After five years of the Tories, people have come to expect economic pain. It’s time for a government that puts working people first.

Please give me your support, so that I can continue to be a radical advocate within Labour for a new economy that works for the people – and so that I can hold a Labour government to its commitments to regenerate our economy, raise wages, and building a better future for the next generation of Ayrshire workers.

Patricia Gibson (SNP) North Ayrshire needs increased employment opportunities and enhanced facilities to deliver prosperity to people living, working and raising families here.

We propose an alternative to austerity, boosting economic growth through investment.

The SNP Government in partnership with NAC and the NHS is delivering a new Garnock Academy, Ayrshire Central Hospital, Brodick Harbour and unique, purpose-built accommodation in Largs for disabled athletes. This combined investment of £117million will create and sustain employment.

Construction of the £28million Dalry bypass will help attract inward investment through enhanced connectivity, leading to an anticipated additional 1,700 jobs over the next decade. The Ardrossan Shell site provides an opportunity for regeneration through quality housing provision and light industrial development.

Businesses such as GSK, J&D Pierce and DSM have invested heavily in delivering world class products whilst our small business sector, backed by £616million of SNP Government support across Scotland is at the forefront of regenerating and sustaining our communities.

Last year youth unemployment fell faster in North Ayrshire than anywhere else in Scotland, with over 1,000 more young people in work, including 838 modern apprenticeships. To continue this progress, the SNP Government’s Youth Employment Scotland Fund helps employers recruit people aged 16 to 30, including those most at risk of unemployment, such as young working mums, care leavers and disabled people.

We will increase the annual Employment Allowance from £2,000 to £6,000 per business to reduce the cost of creating and sustaining employment.

With a strong voice at Westminster the SNP will deliver even more for North Ayrshire.

Jamie Greene (Conservative) Top of my agenda in this election is getting people into work. I come from a working class area in Greenock and was brought up surrounded by high, long-term unemployment and decades of Labour MPs who did nothing for my town. I want young people here to feel like there are real opportunities when they leave school.

Since 2010 youth unemployment is down by 7,600 in Scotland. Locally, overall employment in this area has increased by 2,800 and the number of people claiming Job Seekers Allowance has fallen by 34 per cent. So we’ve made a start.

I do not live with my head in the clouds though, there is much more we can do. Let me be specific here on the Scottish Conservatives plans: Apprenticeships: 10,000 more by 2010.

College places: The SNP slashed 140,000 courses and 1,200 staff have been lost. That is shameful.

Wages: We will offer small business tax breaks if they pay their staff the Living Wage.

Contracts: We put a stop to exclusive zero hour’s contracts.

Tax: You will pay no tax whatsoever on the first £12,500 you earn under the Conservatives.

Local jobs: We want to triple the amount of start-up loans being offered to small businesses.

Let’s work together! I personally would like to set up a new North Ayrshire Economic Regeneration Forum which ensures that local councils and the Holyrood and Westminster governments work together hand in hand with local employers to turn around the local economy and create real local jobs.

Ruby Kirkwood (Liberal Democrat) Economic regeneration is dependent upon a strong economy, and the Liberal Democrat’s record in office shows we are on the right path to sustaining this by halving the budget deficit and helping business create over two million jobs nationally, 174,000 of them in Scotland.

Our industrial and economic policy has had supporting business at its heart. We have reformed the banking system; created the world’s first Green Investment Bank; enabled unprecedented investment in low carbon energy; introduced a Regional Growth Fund and a bold new Industrial Strategy to support growth and high-skilled jobs Our aim is to maintain this and build a sustainable economy to work for everyone built on a built on strong national infrastructure, a stable competitive business environment, investment in skills and green technologies, innovation and openness to trade. We must ensure the recovery has roots in every part of the UK and as Britain recovers we mustn’t return to growth based on personal debt, housing speculation and low skills.

The plan has to be long term with partnerships with industries with joint funding for research and development with finance from the Business Bank, Green Investment Bank and Regional Growth Fund, all of which we will look to expand in the next Parliament based on the responsible financial planning we have put in place over the last five years as we look to balance the structural budget by 2017-18, which will then allow us to increase public spending once again in line with growth in the economy.

In Government, we’ve cut corporation tax from 28 per cent to 21 per cent and reduced it to 20 per cent for small businesses with profits up to £300,000. From April 2014, we’ve been saving all businesses and charities £2,000 from their National Insurance bills each year.

With planned continued reform to business taxes we aim to encourage business to invest in our country and our people and encourage partnerships with businesses to create enterprises which can and will benefit all areas of the UK, not least our own.

With education being fully devolved we can only encourage the Scottish government to fully utilise the spending we aim to keep as we refuse to allow cuts in education spending from nursery to higher education levels. Having helped finance two million apprenticeships in England we will encourage the Scottish government to support our young workforce likewise with the extra funding they will get through the spending in this south of the border looking to double the number of businesses who hire apprentices.

Sharon McGonigal Economic regeneration in North Ayrshire and Arran will encompass many UKIP policies because of the diverse nature of the constituency. Firstly we will fund our plans, our manifesto is the first to be fully costed and checked by a neutral third party. Leaving the EU will not fund our plans alone. We will scrap vanity projects like HS2, reduce the cost of government at Westminster by restructuring, for example, £7.2million can be saved by removing the paid advisors at Westminster.

The triple lock on pensions and lifting those earning £13,000 out of the tax bracket will mean people have a little more money in their pockets to spend.

Our childcare policy will honour the £2,000 for children under 12. We will also increase nursery places and make provision for breakfast and after school care from 8am to 6pm. This will enable families to have both parents working if they choose to.

Our housing policy will develop brown field sites, give the construction industry a boost and create the need for more real apprenticeships to fill the skills needed to build affordable homes, social housing and restore empty houses to habitable condition.

We will give small businesses help by reducing business rates and helping prevent late payments that often cause cashflow problems.

Farmers across the constituency will benefit from a new single farm payment, removing the EU red tape and enforcing fair practice in the food industry.

Leaving the EU will mean that fishermen are better off. We will promote and defend the rights of UK fishermen and returning £2.5billion a year in fish sales to the UK economy.

UKIP will fuel regeneration in coastal areas, transforming them into vibrant, growing communities by bestowing 'Seaside Town Status’ to areas in need of regeneration. This will give Local Authorities new powers and access to low interest government loans and prioritise larger-scale heritage, residential, retail and tourist regeneration over smaller scale projects. We would encourage regenerative arts projects into our coastal towns.

These manifesto pledges will boost employment for people of all ages across the constituency, transforming education to include practical skills for those who choose to take a non-academic path at secondary level and increasing the need for real apprenticeships that lead to real jobs. A vote for UKIP is a vote for real workable funded policies, a vote for positive change, a better Britain for all.