Amec, a project management and engineering company, employs 900 people in the town and 2,500 in the region.

Edward said: “I, along with other candidates on Teesside, would like to see a geological survey carried out in the Tees estuary to consider the view of gas storage plants.

“It would bring jobs to the Tees Valley. Here in Darlington we would supply the expertise.”

Greg Clark was born in Middlesbrough and is also shadow minister for Teesside, although he serves as MP for Tunbridge Wells, in Kent.

He warned that the country faces its first black-outs since the Seventies by 2016 or 2017 unless more capacity is created either through new nuclear power stations or extending the life of current stations.