NEP Party leader Brian Moore Skewers Graeme Miller over Pallion Shipyard

North East Party leader Brian Moore posed tough questions to Sunderland City Council leader Graeme Miller last night during a BBC Five live event at the Fire Station over the Future of the Pallion Shipyard.

Moore, who leads the regionalist party, and has also been a key backer of the campaign to re-establish Maritime industries on the River Wear in the defunct shipyard, accused the council during the debate of blocking a bid to purchase the side by Harland & Wolff.

Directly confronting the leader, Moore stated that he “personally stopped” an investment on the site, and asked why he seeks to prevent jobs and apprenticeships from being created on the River Wear.

However, Miller retorted Brian’s question by branding his claim “a complete lie”, and insisted that “no business has come forward to look at the use of the Pallion Shipyard” during the time he had been leader. He gave no further comment regarding the yard’s future.

Despite this, questions continue to remain concerning the Shipyard’s future, with council documents having earmarked it as a “suitable” area for housing developments in 2017.

The council has otherwise experienced growing local scrutiny concerning its willingness to transform whatever land is made available in Sunderland into housing developments, a process that has been accelerated by nationally imposed housing targets and cuts to local government budgets.