Comment
We demand a fair deal
THERE is plenty of cause for optimism
here in the North-East.
We can hold our heads up high as the
region with the fastest-growing economy.
We are building an enviable reputation as
a place to do business, with the Tees Valley
making particular progress.
But in terms of income - the money in
people's pockets - the gap between the
North-East and the South-East continues
to grow.
We know that it doesn't suit the Government
to talk of the North-South divide.
It didn't suit Tony Blair and it suits
Gordon Brown even less.
Earlier this year, the issue was dismissed
as "a sterile debate" by Government
minister Stephen Timms.
We passionately disagree with that
point of view because we know there is an
inherent unfairness in the way the Government
treats the regions.
And just as we consider it our duty to
promote the North-East and champion all
that it has to offer, we also believe it is
right to fight its corner.
Mr Brown's battered and increasingly
accident-prone Government needs to do
more to help low-income households faced
with rising fuel and food prices. That need
is most keenly felt here in the North-East.
And yet the Barnett Formula for government
funding - devised in the dim and
distant past of 1979 - shamelessly
penalises the North-East.
The Government knows it, but refuses
to do anything about it. We say it yet again
- that position has to change.
There must be a new needs-based funding
formula - one which helps rather than
hinders the North-East.
12:14pm Friday 9th May 2008
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CommentPosted by: David Lacey, Newcastle on 12:56pm Fri 9 May 08
After 11 years of new Labour, Blair, Mandy, Byers, Milburn, Armstrong etc etc we can be absolutely certain that this party will do NOTHING for the region. But I'm afraid that the Tories are just as guilty. In the 18 years 1979 -1997 their policies brought great hardship to the North East and they owe us a favour big time. However they refuse to explain their policy on the Barnett Formula let alone make a clear undertaking to scrap it. The Limpdums are also strangely silent on this matter.
I'm afraid that we have been consigned to the dustbin of history.
After 11 years of new Labour, Blair, Mandy, Byers, Milburn, Armstrong etc etc we can be absolutely certain that this party will do NOTHING for the region. But I'm afraid that the Tories are just as guilty. In the 18 years 1979 -1997 their policies brought great hardship to the North East and they owe us a favour big time. However they refuse to explain their policy on the Barnett Formula let alone make a clear undertaking to scrap it. The Limpdums are also strangely silent on this matter.
I'm afraid that we have been consigned to the dustbin of history.
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