West Suffolk College principal and Adnams CEO outline demands to Truss and Sunak

Ahead of Conservative leadership hustings in Norwich later this week, the Eastern Powerhouse has written open letters to Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak.

Nikos Savass, principal of West Suffolk college in Bury St Edmunds is one of the founding members of the powerhouse, which also includes Dr Andy Wood, Chief Executive Officer of Adnams, and Nic Rumsey Managing Director of the Jaynic Group.

The aim of the powerhouse is to 'bring renewed national focus to the needs and potential of the East of England'.

In the letters, Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss were given 'urgent demands', as business leaders from across the region called on the next Prime Minister to invest in East Anglia.

The key demands were a commitment to improving rail links, with the letters saying 'bottlenecks have dogged the region for years'.

Leaders said that energy supplies in the East: oil, gas, solar, wind and nuclear, had the potential to power London and the West Midlands.

They also suggested the government could use the region's 'tech clusters' to create a 'Silicon East'.