The Government cannot restore manufacturing in the North if electricity prices remain higher for UK companies compared with European firms, a Conservative MP has warned.

David Mowat added he believes it is not possible for Britain to rebalance its economy and to have a "march of the makers", should the disparity continue to exist.

Energy-intensive industries in the UK pay around 9p for a unit of electricity while prices are around 4p a unit in France and Germany, Mr Mowat told the Commons.

Chancellor George Osborne used his 2011 Budget speech to outline a greater role for manufacturing and say how he wanted to see a "Britain carried aloft by the march of the makers".

Speaking during report stage of the Energy Bill, Mr Mowat (Warrington South) said he regards man-made climate change as a "clear and present danger".

But he said: "The concern that I have though is that we are increasingly acting in this country unilaterally in terms of what we're doing to fix it, and indeed the emissions trading system was an attempt to have a pan-European solution to a pan-European problem and I don't want us to turn our back on it.

"I speak also for 900,000 people that work in energy-intensive industries in this country and many other millions of people who work in manufacturing industries.

"The central premise of what I'm going to say is, I don't believe it's possible to rebalance our economy, to have a march of the makers, to do more in the North of the country, predicated on electricity prices that are approximately double of what they are in continental Europe.

"Now, of course, nobody in this House wants higher electricity prices. But the facts are, some of the actions we're taking, if those similar actions are not taken by our trading partners, are resulting in higher electricity prices.

"This morning our energy-intensive industries are paying something like 9p a unit for electricity - in Germany and France they're paying 4p a unit.

"Broadly speaking, the gap between UK and EU electricity prices is 80% to 90%. I'm an MP for the north of this country, I want to see manufacturing re-established much more strongly in the North and it cannot be on the basis of differentially higher electricity prices."

Labour's Alex Cunningham called on the Government to give its so-called "northern powerhouse" project some meaning by backing carbon capture and storage (CCS) in Teesside.

The area has been badly hit by job losses in the steel sector recently but backing the Teesside Collective's goal of building a CCS industrial zone could mean "boom time" for the area, he said.

The Stockton North MP told the Commons: "What an opportunity for the Government to put some meaning into the much-abused term 'northern powerhouse'.

"A large-scale power plant, an opportunity to develop with CCS, but with the immeasurable bonus of doing it with the Teesside Collective and developing an exciting project that could mean boom time for Teesside, with the kind of inward investment only people in the South believe can be a reality."