8:26am Thursday 9th September 2010
By Gavin Engelbrecht
PARTS of the region will struggle to cope with impending economic cuts, and one town is the most vulnerable area in the country, new research has revealed.
The findings, showing the region as a whole lagging behind the rest of the country, come only weeks before the coalition Government unveils its Comprehensive Spending Review.
The Experian report, commissioned by the BBC as the region faces the most severe public spending cuts in 80 years, was the subject of a lively debate at Durham Johnston School, in Durham City, to be televised tonight.
Outlining some of the key findings, BBC political correspondent Mark Denton, said: “They are not a predictor of where cuts will go, but are an indication of which areas will be the most resilient to cuts and most able to cope.
“Teesside does badly, with Middlesbrough bottom of the pile in 324th place, making it the least resilient economy in England.”
“Middlesbrough also suffers from high deprivation and benefit claimants, combined with low life expectancy and poor social cohesion.”
He added Hartlepool, Redcar and South Tyneside were also in the bottom ten of the overall rankings, while the rest of the region was a “mixed bag”.
Mr Denton said: “We have got resilient areas in the top end of North Yorkshire. Hambleton and Ryedale are doing well, with Harrogate doing best in the county.”
An estimated 332,000 people work in the public sector in the North-East, one in three people in the working population and the highest proportion in England.
Only last month it was announced 500 North-East jobs are to be axed as part of an NHS cost-cutting drive.
Graham Robb, who runs a public relations company, said while these jobs were important to those affected, they were back room jobs and not doctors and nurses.
Durham City Labour MP Roberta Blackman-Woods said: “We have to challenge the view coming from the coalition Government that these cuts are necessary.
They are not necessary.”
Liberal Democrat peer Lord Shipley said the private sector in the region was too small and had to expand.
But One North East chairman Paul Callaghan said, while new industries were being encouraged to invest in the region, the private sector would not be able to absorb the job losses from the public sector, as the skills were different.
Unison regional convenor Clare Williams said the private sector was dependent upon the public sector, with 70p in every pound earned by public sector workers going back into the region’s economy.
■ Spending Review: The Look North Debate will be shown tonight on BBC One (North-East and Cumbria) at 10.35pm.
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