New report says cuts will widen north-south divide
The Prime Minister says he'll push for growth but a new report suggests the North could fall further behind.
David Cameron may be promising to go for growth suggests his government's spending cuts could widen the north-south divide.
, a thinktank based in Newcastle, say the decisions taken last Wednesday will hit our region more than the south.
Their report says that on jobs, welfare, public services and investment in infrastructure, the North could fall further behind the rest of the country.
The problem, the IPPR says, is the Government's lack of a convincing strategy for growth to go alongside the cuts.
This verdict came as the Prime Minister chose to talk about what the Coalition was doing to encourage growth.
He talked about the Government's investment in green jobs, science and innovation. He also highlighted the Chancellor's decision to protect spending on big capital projects.
, but the IPPR is concerned they won't be enough.
On the Government's , it suggests the poorest parts of the North could miss out.
The fund will put £1.4bn into the regions over three years, but the IPPR points out, the existing Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) had that amount to spend just in this financial year.
The IPPR also fears that some of that money will be eaten away by the increased costs of running 50 Local Enterprise Partnerships instead of 9 RDAs.
And it says areas with stronger economies may be in a better position to extract money from the fund, putting the poorest communities in the North at a disadvantage.
On science funding, it's concerned the Government only highlighted projects in the South of England on Wednesday.
The report points out that government spending per head on science and technology is already much higher in the South than the North (£155 per head in London, compared to £86 in the North East).
And on transport spending it points to similar differences.
It warns that the investment in the Tyne and Wear Metro and the East Coast Main Line is dwarfed by the £20bn being put into Crossrail and the Tube in London.
The report also says individuals in the North are more likely to be hit by the cuts because of their greater reliance on benefits and the public sector.
The Government I'm sure would disagree with many of the IPPR's conclusions.
It says it remains determined to rebalance the economy away from dependence on the City of London towards greater growth in the region.
But the thinktank says the North may need to help itself by coming up with its own strategy for growth, rather than relying on central government.
It says: "...if the Spending Review demonstrates anything, it shows just how far the decisions of a small Whitehall elite can determine the economic futures of many millions of people living great distances from the capital city."
The question is can the North's political leaders take charge of their own destiny?
I'm Richard Moss, the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ's Political Editor for the North East and Cumbria. Welcome to my irreverent - but hopefully insightful - northern take on reporting politics for Look North and the Politics Show.
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