Portsmouth City Council leader Cllr Gerald Vernon-Jackson has praised business secretary Vince Cable's appointment of Michael Fallon as city champion in a ministerial capacity.

The decision to appoint Mr Fallon as Minister for Portsmouth comes in the wake of BAE Systems' announcement last November to end shipbuilding at the historic naval port with the loss of nearly 1,000 jobs.

Portsmouth and neighbouring south coast city Southampton last year signed a joint City Deal to secure the devolution of greater economic powers – but at the time Cllr Vernon-Jackson insisted Portsmouth required a separate set of support measures.

‘It's really good news,' Cllr Vernon-Jackson, who is leader of the Liberal Democrat group at the Local Government Association told The MJ.

‘We are really pleased Vince Cable has agreed to release one of his ministers as it means we will have somebody pushing for government help after the end of the shipbuilding industry here.'

Mr Fallon, a former deputy chairman of the Conservative Party is minister for business and innovation under Liberal Democrat business secretary Vince Cable and also serves as minister for energy at the Department of Energy and Climate Change.

Cllr Vernon-Jackson said Mr  Fallon's role would be similar to that undertaken by Lord Heseltine to regenerate Liverpool in the wake of the Toxteth riots in the early 1980s.

‘He will be somebody at the heart of government who can fight for us and work for us to bring new jobs to replace those that are being lost,' Cllr Jackson said.

‘It's time we knew about all the different opportunities for government funding, government schemes and youth support,' Cllr Jackson added.