The Great Wen

[Colwyn]

Is London like a giant vampire sucking the life blood from the rest of the country?


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-25444981

[KKOB]

No, but if the UK had piles, they'd be in Bristol.

[Colwyn]

Whereas Wrexham used to be nice place until people blowing out wind went there.

[KKOB]

I wondered how long it would take you to bite !  

[desmartinson]

Went to Bristol once, I can see why they named Tits after it.  

[Colwyn]

You were let in? I must have a word with the Mayor about the effectiveness of our border guards. But at least once you were thrown out you weren't allowed back in.

[usedbustickets]

Colwyn what is it about Bristol that attracts such comments?  You know you would not get me at it, as I myself went there once and it was shut ....

[usedbustickets]

As to the article itself and the great economist Cable.  What has he ever done in his term in government to improve the economic lot of the regions.  Basically nothing.  And on a wider target, where are the Business or Economic Regional Policies of the coalition government, answers on the back of postage stamp to Ask Gideon, c/o 11 Downing Street London SW1.

[Colwyn]

I don't think there is much in Cable's argument; it seems an over-elaborate way of saying "Don't expand Heathrow next to my constituency". However, I do think there is a growing problem with London-dominated government, especially as far as economic policy goes. The problem was signalled by Eddie George's comment that unemployment in the North was a price worth paying for curbing inflation in the South. Now the Bank of England is sending out suggestions that there may be a problem with recovery overheating and house prices getting out of control. Well that may be the view in London but is it representative of the rest of the country? I doubt it.


The billions to be spent on HS2 are justified on grounds of "help to the regions" in the North. However, studies of what happens when communications improve between an affluent region and a relatively deprived region show that it is the affluent region that benefits more. This is what happened when the first Severn Bridge was opened; it opened up Welsh markets to English businesses. The report that predicted this would happen was carefully buried to maintain the fiction that economic flows would largely benefit Wales.


The development of proper regional economic policies and agencies to carry them through is crucial for the country outside London and its hinterland.

[usedbustickets]

The benefits of the London and the South East economic hot house are not all one way benefits, and the regions have benefited too, certainly in my working life.  Look at  all the jobs that were moved out of London to Wales and the West (could give other regional examples), by both the private and public sector to places like Wales, e.g Fords to Bridge end (kept Sunny Jim happy), Lloyds Bank to Bristol (and Worthing!!), DVLA (centralisation benefit) Tax Offices (centralisation benefit), Aerospace jobs moved to Bristol (centralisation and merger activity).  I could go on, but perhaps in the final analysis you should consider this rather rather stark statistic, percentage of public sector jobs of total employment in London and the South East is 16%, and in Wales 27%.  

Mind you both private and public sector learnt a lot from these experiments of sending work out to 'cheaper' areas, its called off-shoring these days.  In which case there is little or no economic or employment benefit for the UK.