The north-east of England: Britain’s Detroit?

 

There was a secret room until seven years go at Darlington stations stationed between the waiting room of standard class on one of the platforms. The room was plain and small containing one desk and two windows facing at the street. This room was used by Tony Blair while he was prime minister. Later many other key Labour figures used the same station as Tony Blair via Darlington train stations. These significant Labour figures include David Miliband, Alan Milburn and Peter Mandelson. This region the Northeast are of England contains about a 25th of the total UK population and this region was represented as the prime minister’s first cabinet. This remotest ad often called the poorest region has been a hub of great political influence. Today that secret room which was used by the prime minister is station manager’s office. The building next to the secret room today is a market town station with fragile roof and flaking paint. There is no any cabinet minister since the Labour power today is based in Yorkshire, London and the Northwest region.

Since this era of great political influence, this region just slipped in other direction. In later years between 2007 and 2012 there was present a great unemployment trend and it rose faster than in any other region, so it became the one of the highest in the country. The following year of 2013 the unemployment rise trend has continued on most regions. Since 2007, analyses show that the overall contribution of this area to the national economic growth has shrunk from weak three percentage to more weak two percentage in the Blair years. Also in those years the Northern Rock society has suffered a humiliating and disastrous meltdown and this society has roots in Northeast region.

There is also an analysis provided by the Special Interest Group of Municipal Authorities which states that a typical council in the area will lose around £665 in funding per resident until the year of 2018 which is the most certainly the biggest national fail. In the same time public sector employment has been falling for eight years and no progress has been visible in this sector ever since.

One of the north –eastern football clubs the Newcastle United also can tell some dispiriting stories regarding this region and its overall economy. The region has been always known as a problem region and many people think that there is not much left for this area. Many influential people feel mostly discouraged and not so confident that there is a bright future for these areas including Sunderland. For Policy Exchange in 2008 the influential Tory said that people have to stop pretending that there is a brighter future. However North East LEP has definitely some aces in the sleeve with newly created strategic plan which would bring brighter and better opportunities for North –east residents.