In the 1980’s Britain was a divided nation in more ways than one.The industrial strife of the miners strike and the subsequent pit closures took a terrible toll on the Economy of the North with high unemployment and social deprivation rife in cities like Newcastle, Liverpool, Manchester & Sheffield. No one captured this division better than the comedian Harry Enfield with his cockney character “Loadsamoney” and his Newcastle counterpart “buggerallmoney”.
Whilst these caricatures caused hilarity both North and South they represented real, deep cultural divisions.
Of course the South has always had it’s own problems of density of population, high housing costs, congested roads, increased pollution and pockets of real deprivation alongside unbridled wealth.
In the 1990’s onward there has been tremendous progress in the North. Cities like Newcastle, Manchester & Leeds are unrecognisable compared to 20 years ago. Rather than squander money City councils like Salford have done a tremendous job in bringing new investment to previously deprived areas and building new, modern infrastructure which is the envy of the world.
The massive cuts announced by the coalition Government risk undoing all of that and there is a real danger that their impact will be felt far more sharply in the North where there is a much greater dependency on Government and Civil Service jobs.
This must not be allowed to happen. There must be Government incentives for New Businesses to set up in the North. In these days of electronic communications there is absolutely NO good reason for New Start ups to be located in the South East. Newcastle, Leeds, Manchester & Liverpool all have excellent airports and rail and road infrastructure. There are skilled and educated workers available at a fraction of the cost of workers in the South East.
This is not a plea for sympathy, it is a demand for equality of opportunity.
If we want to avoid another North South divide, with all that entails, we must encourage Business Investment in the North.
