Where the cuts fall

Thanks to Labour councils and Hilary Benn it is widely known (at least amongst the readers of liberal newspapers) that Tory-LibDem cuts have fallen most heavily on deprived urban areas.  But differences in responsibilities, services and spending make comparing a  large northern Met with a small southern shire district slightly superficial.

It’s not been easy to make fair comparisons between the different forms of English local government: London Boroughs, Metropolitan Boroughs, Unitary Authorities and two tier County/Districts. But now, an interactive map and database built for me by the House of Commons Library lets us compare spending more accurately than ever before.

The trick is to assume County Councils spread their spending evenly across their districts. By combining this with the District spend we get a spending per head which is a reasonable, though not exact, comparison with unitary authorities and all purpose boroughs.

You can find the map here.

At first glance, the map seems to confirm a simple north-south pattern, with the heaviest cuts in deprived northern Mets and London boroughs.  Look more closely and it’s actually a few counties in central southern England which have been best protected. Coastal communities almost everywhere have been hit hard, including Cornwall and the Isle of Wight. There are sharp contrasts between urban areas like Southampton (-£148.4 per head) and neighbouring Eastleigh (-£33.0 per head); Brighton (-£158.6 per head) and Mid Sussex (-£11.83) Even in the same country, urban Norwich (-£113 per head) has done much worse than South Norfolk (-£73.4 per head).

No doubt  Labour key seat candidates will be tempted to highlight such anomalies as Bedford (-£102.1 per head) and Central Bedfordshire (-£28.64)

Labour’s language should reflect the reality. This is not north vs south, but protecting the wealthiest at the expense of everyone else.

Take time to play with the map and you’ll find you can compare cuts by % and £s; look at cuts by relative deprivation; or construct your own comparisons. Lyn Brown MP’s office have shown that Cabinet Ministers like  Philip Hammond (Elmbridge), Michael Gove (Surrey Heath), Theresa May (Wokingham) and Jeremy Hunt (Waverly) have seen few cuts or even increases in spending. The great majority of the Cabinet represent areas with relatively few cuts, which must affect their perception of what is happening. Out of touch indeed.

John Denham is MP for Southampton Itchen and chairs Labour’s Southern Taskforce.