Warnings sound as Darling eyes cuts
Apr 21 2009 by Adrian Pearson, The Journal
THE North East could pay the price for bringing the South out of recession, leading economists warned last night.
They claim that spending cuts in the Chancellor’s budget will have a damaging impact on the region because of its reliance on public sector employment.
Alistair Darling is believed to be looking at budget proposals which will wipe £15bn from the cost of public spending.
And it’s feared that, as the region most dependent upon Government cash for jobs and investment, any spending changes would see the North East take more than its fair share of cuts.
Economists tasked with preparing for the end of the recession last night pointed out that the North East is often the last region to recover from downturns in the economy.
That means it could be forced to take on the majority of public sector job cuts at the exact time other regions are seeing growth return to their local economies.
Economists at The Northern Way, the super-quango tasked with campaigning for the North, say families here could still be struggling a year or two after other regions have recovered.
“At the extreme, this could mean job losses in the North during the upturn,” a Northern Way report warns.
The same report says spending cuts are especially damaging in the North and “particularly in the North East”.
Andrew Lewis, head of The Northern Way, said the region had to look at securing spending in the private sector to ensure it continued to grow when the recession ended.
