Article published in the Wear Valley Mercury, June 2010
As we all know, Wear Valley was hit particularly hard by the global recession in 2009. Unemployment rose, and businesses and homeowners struggled to stay afloat.
It was a difficult time for everyone, but through a combination of our local resilience and Government support we have started to recover.
Unemployment in Bishop Auckland is down by 491 in the last year, and is falling at a faster rate than in the rest of the country. During the Election campaign I visited a number of businesses on the South Church Enterprise Park and I was delighted to see that they were doing well and taking on new staff.
So I am very worried that last week’s Budget and the Tory/Lib Dem plans to cut public spending by 25% will put the recovery at risk, and undo all the progress we have made.
I hope I am wrong, and that the recovery we have now will become stronger over the next five years, but the more I look at the Budget and the more I think about the impact of 25% cuts on our public service, the more worried I become.
I am worried because cuts of that scale simply cannot be delivered without people losing their jobs, and without vital local projects like NETPark – which One North East had been so vital in supporting – losing the investment they need to help safeguard our local economy in the medium and long term.
We all accept the need to reduce the deficit, but I cannot help concluding that the way the coalition Government are going about it is unfair and irresponsible.
It is unfair because this Budget will see the income of the poorest 10% of households reduce by more than the richest 10%.
Alistair Darling’s plans to cut the deficit advocated precisely the opposite course of action, with a new top rate of tax for the richest and support for the unemployed and those in greatest need.
By cutting Child Benefit, Housing Benefit and Disability Allowance, however, the Coalition have made sure the cuts fall on the most vulnerable in our community.
It is irresponsible because by axing programs like the Future Jobs Fund – which I worked on as a Government Minister and was proud to see create 462 jobs in our area – it will inevitably lead to longer dole queues.
I have spent much of the last week pressing the Prime Minister, the Chancellor and the Secretary of State for Work & Pensions for figures to see how people in Wear Valley will be affected. My suspicion is that families, pensioners and public sector workers will be the worst hit, and as soon as I get an answer, the Wear Valley Mercury readers will be the first to find out!
