London’s Supremacy Grows As Britain’s North-South Economic Divide Widens

The North and South economic chasm is widening in the U.K. For every 12 new private sector jobs created in cities in the South of England during the past decade, one job in the private sector has disappeared in Northern cities.

The statistics were unveiled in a new report compiled by Centre for Cities, a think tank dedicated to understanding and improving city economics. The report shows in stark terms how the South of England is driving the economic recovery whilst the rest of the country is being forced into decline.

As London and the towns and cities in its vicinity flourish with new jobs, talent and money, life to the North is being choked.

The Cities Outlook 2015 report showed that between 2004 and 2013, employment in London increased by 17%. Alongside the healthy rise in employment, the South has experienced growth in skilled jobs and an expanding population. Drive 100 miles or so north and the situation couldn’t be more different.

During the same period, Sunderland, in the North East, has seen its population decline by 4,000. Other deprived Northern cities have experienced a decline in employment of approximately 10%.

Out of the 10 cities in the U.K. with the lowest growth in employment in the last decade, seven are in the North of England, with the remaining three being a fair distance from London.

“There is a big movement of young professionals from the cities in the North to cities in the South, particularly London,” said Paul Swinney, author of the report and chief economist of Centre for Cities.

“That is a sign not only of the success Southern cities have had in creating jobs, but also the breadth of choice,” Swinney added.

The report highlighted that by 2013, employment opportunities had increased in South West and South East regions of England by an average of 12.4%. In comparison, in much of the rest of the U.K., opportunities for work had barely improved.

“This means that between 2004 and 2013, for every 12 net additional jobs created in cities in the South, one was created in cities elsewhere in Britain,” states the report.

When the Conservative-led coalition government came into power five years ago, it promise to rebalance the nation’s economy. Instead, as the Cites Outlook 2015 report reveals, many cities outside the South have continued plunging into economic decline in recent years.

With the U.K.’s general election just months away, it is hardly surprising Conservatives are making a beeline for the North. All major political parties are under pressure to promise to generate growth in Northern cities.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer, George Osborne, for example, has pledged to build a “Northern Powerhouse.” In a recent speech in Manchester, in the North West of England, Osborne and Prime Minister David Cameron spoke about the government’s goal to create a “northern powerhouse of jobs, investment, prosperity and bright futures" – though not, as the party later clarified, at the expense of a "diminished" London.

Currently holding zero parliamentary seats in any of the major cities in the North – including Manchester, Leeds, Liverpool and Sheffield – it is hardly surprising the Conservatives are getting twitchy about their electoral fragility with the general election just around the corner.

For many, as politicians battle it out to appeal to voters across the whole of Britain, the Cities Outlook 2015 report only confirms what most here have always known: the United Kingdom is a radically divided nation.

As we saw in September 2014 with the referendum on Scottish independence, the vote wasn’t so much about Scotland but London. Scots were faced with the choice of being autonomous or staying tied to London. As the New Statesman wrote:

“The choice facing Scots is whether they trust each other enough to sever the umbilical cord: London largesse, London-based decision-making, London hegemony. London divides the U.K. in a way that no other country in Europe is divided.”

As obvious as inequality has become across the U.K. as a whole, so too is the capital a grossly divided city in its own right. As Occupy.com reported last year, London might be commended round the world as a “centre for innovation, “a city of opportunity” and an “economic powerhouse,” yet the reality is that more than a quarter of Londoners are living in poverty.

The fact that a large proportion of citizens in London are living on a household income that is less than 60% of the national median income – the official definition of poverty – shows even more clearly that London’s dominance, wealth and power lies in the hands of a powerful minority.

The capital’s financial hub is largely retained within a 1.12-square-mile radius, and its resident population of 7,373 (2011) makes it the smallest city in England. Despite its minute size, however, the City of London contributes to 2.4% of Britain’s nation income. So important is this square mile, making up much of the UK’s financial sector, that it has its own municipal governing body known as the City of London Corporation.

The City of London, particularly St. Paul’s Cathedral, is a favorite spot for protestors. In 2011, the Occupy protests focused attention on the City of London and pitched camp in front of the landmark St. Paul’s Cathedral.

Authorities have shown themselves keen to remove the protesters, who are "tarnishing the elite reputation" the City of London has carved for itself. So much so, in fact, that in 2011 the City of London Corporation voted to proceed with court action to remove protestors from St. Paul’s Cathedral grounds. As Occupy London protesters said at the time, the Corporation wanted a “long, costly legal battle.” And after all, they could afford it.

Meanwhile, the rest of the U.K. is stuck in fiscal stagnation, wrestling amongst themselves for the country's new jobs that are few and far between. Paul, 47, from Manchester, has been unemployed for three years. He told Occupy.com:

“The truth is in order to find work we’ll have to move down South. But then, with rent so high, how will we realistically be able to afford living there?”