The new Council will support and feed local intelligence into the Economic Council recently established by the Prime Minister and chaired by the Chancellor Alistair Darling.

The South East Economic Delivery Council is expected to meet every six to eight weeks and be jointly chaired by the Minister for the South East and the Chair of SEEDA. Members will come from across other regional agencies, and will also include business leaders, to agree collective action on specific local issues which are affected by wider economic conditions.

South East Regional Minister, Jonathan Shaw, said:

"The government has recognised the need of a new approach to coordinating economic policy in the light of the current downturn, and as such I am delighted to announce the creation of a new South East Economic Delivery Council.

"As joint Chair I will be looking forward to bringing together the South East's key economic players to address issues of regional importance. I envisage the Council being a key forum for our region to feedback to central government."

SEEDA Chair, James Brathwaite, said:

"The Regional Minister and SEEDA have listened carefully to local business people to understand what is happening on the ground. Right now our priority is to help businesses ride out the storm, prepare for tougher times, and emerge stronger for the upturn. We will be helping small businesses through improved Business Link services, brokering deals, bringing in investment, avoiding redundancies, and helping businesses innovate."