It is easy to forget that David Cameron came to office promising to rebalance Britain’s economy – the Tories’ 2010 manifesto even included a section on the need for a “more balanced economy”.
But instead we have seen regional imbalances become even more stark and local areas held back. For example, while the number of young people claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance for more than 12 months nationally has increased by 60 per cent since May 2010, in the North East that figure is 263 per cent. Just one in five of the 646 infrastructure projects listed in the government’s infrastructure pipeline are in the North East, North West or Yorkshire and the Humber.
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