New report shows that we have to protect our heartlands

From LabourList

A weighty report by the think tank Centre for Cities outlines those towns and cities who are well placed to withstand the recession and those who have very real challenges. It’s interesting to note just how far all towns and cities in the UK have come in the last few years, in terms of the huge numbers of jobs that have been created, increase in the number of people with good qualifications and the very real improvements that have been made to the built environment in areas that were scarred by the slash and burn economic policies of the Tories in the 80s and 90s.

Cities like Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield, Belfast and many more were written off by the Tories, in terms of an economics policy that felt these places were beyond repair and that the residents should ‘get on their bikes’ and move down South, a policy still being pushed by the Cameroon think-tank, Policy Exchange. These areas were written off politically as well, with a haemorrhaging of council and parliamentary seats as the Tories became disinterested in fighting in these areas and to extent embarrassed and afraid of asking people to go and vote for a Party that did so much damage.

Laughably, though, Dave wants to ask Northerners to forgive and forget and help him get into power, which is a bit of a laugh! It was John Prescott and his approach to regeneration that’s started to fix these cities and Gordon Brown’s stewardship of the economy that ensured cash was being diverted into these areas to fund it. All we’re seeing from the Tories is gimmicks and promises to abolish a lot of the agencies that are delivering at local level. Thank goodness that the government is thinking seriously about policies that will actually work in preparing cities for the downturn. As James Purnell writes today for the Independent.

“The government is providing £500m in extra support for those who have been on Jobseekers Allowance for six months, to help prevent the long term unemployment that scarred so many lives and communities in previous recessions. That’s on top of the £1.3bn invested before Christmas to ensure people get the help they need from the moment they lose their job. But I know that a purely ‘national’ response will not be enough. That’s why, for example, Jobcentre Plus is using Local Employment Partnerships to tailor support to local employers and labour markets. Cities and local government can also make a major contribution through fostering economic development and supporting people back in to work – for instance through innovative use of the Working Neighbourhoods Fund. We want to work collaboratively with local areas to complement national action.”

We need to get the message out at local level. Point out where Labour councils have helped rebuild the local economy and apply pressure where Tory/lib Dem councils seem complacent. Joe Anderson, the Labour opposition leader in Liverpool, is demanding the council gets more entrepreneurial. He suggests getting business leaders onto the planning committee and involved in a taskforce with local Jobcentre Plus, to ensure the local public framework is acting in a way that focuses like a laser beam on the need to keep people in work and avoid the ‘closed for business’ signs being hung over our biggest cities. Something that will surely happen if the Tories get their hands back on the tiller, washing away all the gains made in the last 11 years.