To think that austerity will hit the south the hardest this time ?

[Effiebriest]

Most research suggests that the North and its cities were hit the worst by austerity.
www.theguardian.com/society/2019/jan/28/deprived-northern-regions-worst-hit-by-uk-austerity-study-finds
www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/north-south-divide-tory-austerity-conservatives-government-cameron-recession-a8667666.html
www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/austerity-cuts-twice-as-deep-in-england-as-rest-of-britain
www.localgov.co.uk/Englands-poorest-areas-hit-hardest-by-austerity/54120
Looking at my local town there is nothing left to cut. Anecdotal maybe but we lost 5 out of 15 libraries during austerity, well used ones as we are a fairly deprived town and not everyone has access to PCs. Last year our council was due to make £35 million pounds in cuts with the loss of a hundred jobs. Austerity never stopped but
apparently it's starting all over again. I really cannot comprehend how yet more services in our delapidated little town can be cut. Anyone think that Sunak and Hunt will have to move on to the more prosperous home counties as many places up here have already been squeezed financially dry and just don't have the same resilience.

Sunak has boasted of how he moved money away from deprived areas in the North to the South of England so he will no doubt carry on, as will Cunt.

They don't give a fuck about anywhere outside the M25, the cunts.

Agreed. Richmond ( his wealthy north yorks constituency) managed to bag millions from the town's fund whereas Barnsley was too prosperous and got nothing. And then towns already on their arses had to fight between themselves for it.

Sunak has boasted of how he moved money away from deprived areas in the North to the South of England so he will no doubt carry on, as will Cunt

Absolutely. They will make sure the south of England get protected from the worst chill of austerity.

No chance OP. The prosperous south will be protected

Crossrail has spent £18.5 billion on a mere 60 miles of track in what is already by far the best served transport infrastructure area of the country just to save Londoners a few minutes changing trains. But don’t hold your breath waiting for any money to get spent on Manchester to Leeds. So no, I wouldn’t worry about the South East feeling any pain. The far South West is a different matter.

Hey now. They aren’t monsters. They care about Surrey and Tunbridge Wells too!

(They really don’t care about the north)

I don't think your analysis holds water.

I agree they do not care about the north. All the talk of levelling up was just hot air.

This^^

I live in West Yorkshire...
Enough said

I don't understand what you think 'normal' people in the South East get, that northerners don't.

Except house prices that make your eyes water!! (Most services are more expensive, fuel & food).

A Tory MP questioned how they can fund HS2 when the money would have paid for the black hole in government spending & also said that she would vote against any increase in taxes & cuts in spending. It was Ester McVey who generally is a hardline Tory.

West Yorkshire Council manager- we are expecting to have to make savage cuts and we don't even know ehere to make them! I am one year off retirement and then I am leaving the country. I don't want to see what is coming...

In the south there tend to be more and better public services, and far more shops, bars and restaurants. In many places, lots of shops have closed down and remained empty leaving town centres looking awful. As a result the public space looks awful.

IS this a serious post?

Do people actually believe this? 😂

One word.......Jaywick

@kittensinthekitchen why would it be a joke ? The north suffered longer and harder. Fact. Some northern councils will go bankrupt. There is literally no fat to trim.
I visited my cousin in Surrey earlier in the year. Spent a week dogsitting. I was gobsmacked at how normal everything was. And well looked after. And clean. I'm certain there is room for frugality in these areas that can take it for the team.

Not a chance… everyone else will be screwed before they screw the south… and by south I mainly mean London and the immediate surrounding area.

Oh good. First response and it's from a bigot.

@Effiebriest my southern council already is bankrupt, they don’t do anything any more!

The south is not a homogenous rich people zone, it houses massive areas of deprivation too. The contrasts may be more stark which causes its own issues.

Bigoted against cunts, or the M25?

@Phrenologistsfinger Slough then. I don't think people think of Slough when they think of the South.

@antelopevalley no, not Slough

A lot.

I moved from Lancashire to Oxford working for the NHS, I was put on the higher pay bracket plus advanced the 3 years for my experience. This was in the 1980s.

Everything I wanted I could get in Oxford, things like a trip to the theatre, I could just buy a ticket and get there on the bus. In Lancashire it would have been an overnight stay in Manchester.

I had a discussion with another member of staff about the phrase, "there are no jobs" in Oxford that meant there were no decent jobs, that people could always get a few hours in McDonalds. In Lancashire it meant McDonalds got 50 applications for one job.

Better and more frequent public transport.

For the cost of travel into London you can visit a number of museums for free. Outside London they are few and far between. That means school visits are also easier to plan and also cheaper.

Charity shops are better. Well have better clothes, curtains etc. I got ball gowns in Oxford.

It's generally warmer.

Access to specialist hospitals, children's hospitals are very spread out, Glasgow, Liverpool, Birmingham and London. I may have missed a couple but it doesn't cost as much to get to them if you are in commuting distance of London. And yes I know you can get travel expenses refunded if you are poor but you still have to pay for the travel first.

Many parents have to take a day of work to get their child to a specialist hospital.

I don't know what happens on Scottish islands, travel to a children's hospital must involve a flight or a long ferry ride.

It's not just the North of England though, Cornwall, Scotland, Wales all have similar problems.

@Phrenologistsfinger I was not aware of any other southern local authority that has gone bankrupt. I know various councils have said they are at risk of bankruptcy such as Kent. But none are bankrupt.