pounds 10m to aid North firms.

MILLIONS could be available to firms across the North East to help them beat the recession.

Ministers announced details of a plan to head off the growing economic gloom in the region.

A pounds 10m support package, which has been diverted from other One NorthEast funding, is the first sign that growing economic troubles will have a bigger impact on the region than originally thought.

And millions more could be made available. But opposition groups accused the Government of trying to solve an economic crisis they created as development agency One NorthEast said growth targets would be affected in the short-term.

Chief executive for One North- East, Alan Clarke, said the next 18 months were going to be difficult.

He said: "I'm not trying to pretend a pounds 10m package will turn around the economy but we think we are still better placed than other regions who have a much bigger dependency on the financial services sector.

"However, because housing and construction are now being affected we have to admit it is in our region.

We are not trying to deny there are real economic difficulties."

Newcastle Council leader John Shipley praised the development agency but said the need for such measures revealed the extent of economic decline.

But Shadow Tyneside minister Alan Duncan said the Government was trying to take credit for alleviating a problem it created. "This shows how they have mismanaged the economy and the North East now needs urgent first aid," he said.

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DIFFICULT TIMES: Alan Clarke