THE North-west Regional Assembly has set a "tough but realistic" target of 50,000 new jobs for the region.

The target would raise the employment level of the North-west up to the national average and follows another assembly decision to raise the economic output of the region to the national average.

The assembly has already launched a campaign to bring 5,000 Civil Service jobs to the region after the Government launched a review into public-sector relocation.

Together with the so-called "multiplier effect" - where the private sector creates additional new jobs around the public sector - this figure would account for more than 10 per cent of the new regional target.

Economic output in the North-west is currently only 90 per cent of the national level.

The leader of the assembly, and Bury councillor, Derek Boden, said: "We need to set more challenging targets for the economy of our region and we need to have more ambition for the North-west.

"Before 1979, this region actually matched the national average for economic output. Since then, this figure has fallen more than any other region. We have now turned the corner - the North-west's output is growing but we need to accelerate the pace of change.

"The office of the Deputy Prime Minister has estimated that by raising the economic performance of the whole North to the English average, the three northern regions would be about £30 billion per year better off. That is about £2,000 per person."

The North-west Regional Assembly, based at Wigan, was set up in advance of a referendum next year when the people of the North-west will decide whether to make it official.