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.

Yes, the Transpennine route is a disgrace, has been for years. its depressing.

I think cost of living will hit the north harder purely because its colder. I live in the south east and haven't had heating on yet. It's starting to get a bit cold so need a couple of jumpers if I sit all day but hoping to make it to December before the heating goes on.

an important distinction. I’m in the far south west - the forgotten corner. Cornwall and Devon score very highly on measures of poverty. Particularly Cornwall. Hidden to some degree by the enormous wealth of many of the second homers (but just adds to the poverty as housing costs - renting & buying - is out of reach of locals & local services are very stretched).

London doesn’t vote Tory. It’s predominantly red.

Because lots of people live in that area , which has lots of funding which draws in more people. Then it decided because of that pressure more spending is needed , transport for example which draws in more people. And so on.
Wasn't that long ago the idea of another crossrail line was being floated.

I would say that affluent, southern towns are just less dependent on the council? So if they are cut to the bone many people won’t notice.

How many shops there are and restaurants and how they appear is nothing to do with austerity cuts or councils, they are private businesses.

You realise that if you wanted to move to the 'utopia' that apparently is the south east - you can? And pay £300k for a two bed flat. You're more than welcome 🙃

I live as South as you can get without falling into the water (disregarding the Isle of Wight) and I have family up North, in Sheffield and in the North East.
Honestly, Sheffield is a utopia compared to where I live, I’m incredibly tempted to move there, just need to find jobs that would work for me and my family.
The North East town where I grew up (might as well say it, it’s Hartlepool) is slightly better off than where I live now.
My Southern city is suffering massively, I honestly don’t think it’s a North/South divide. London will always be looked after more than the rest of the country, but in London there are areas of immense poverty also. It’s a rich/poor divide, as always…

No thanks, just a rethink on spending, which might make houses cheaper in the south.

i live in Dorset and to answer your questions
No
No
No
i have two jobs both public sector, most employees around here are seasonal unless you can travel, which you need a car…..

Exactly. I like in Berkshire and yeah we have facilities etc but it's also a bloody expensive place to live.
A very standard 3 bed house is £450k, council tax £230 a month... and it's all going up for us too?

Btw I live in London. Obviously a lot more affluent than most of the North but nothing to do with the council really?
Apart from taking the bins and sweeping the leaves away I don’t see much evidence of local government on a day to day basis. I didn’t know anyone employed by local government. Funnily enough, half the roads I pass on the way to school have signs up saying they are private roads and not adopted by the council, so apart from bins those roads look after themselves.
We have a decent amount of libraries. All but 2 in the local area are volunteer run (and are open 6-7 days a week) and one was fund-raising recently because they only receive council money for the books - even the building is provided by a charity and nothing whatsoever to do with the council (which was fund raising to do some maintenance). So … exactly what can they cut? People do it themselves.

We do have better transport but that’s managed by TFL which was bailed out due to the pandemic but is generally able to find itself (also issue debt, which helps).

I’m worried about the pandemic after-effects and the recession locally but that’s in terms of less spending, higher mortgages and rents due to interest rates etc.. Nor austerity.

Right? And no we don’t have “more shops and restaurants” except maybe in tourist hotspots and everything certainly is not “clean”! My local town centre (Surrey!!) is awful.

To be fair OP, I live in Hampshire and I (and others) do regular litter picks because the council gave up years ago. They won't even collect the bags of rubbish, we have to drive them 15 miles to the tip.

@SheWoreARaspberryBeret123 try getting a job up here or an apprenticeship ? The one thing London does have is opportunities which are sadly lacking in many northern areas. My 2 DSs certainly do not want to stay up here, cheap or not.
@Wickedgreengirl Hampshire is one of the most affluent counties in the country with an unemployment rate lower than the national average. Surely financial mismanagement by the tories is the reason for its impending bankruptcy rather than austerity ?

tunbridge wells looks awful at the moment, so many empty shops.

@SkylightSkylight which parts of the north, the so called 'left behind areas' have you visited ?
this is a good article to read, bit old but still pertinent
www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/aug/22/bolton-decline-northern-town-centre-slump. Some of the comments are common to many northern towns tbh.

www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/aug/23/bolton-response-market-city-decline
Previous link doesn't work, different article but same gist.

I dont think the conservative caremore about the south than the north. The conservatives seem to focus on the very wealthy.

Jobs

the south suffer from a health perspective by being too close to london
off to london with your complex cases
leaving basic care to the south district general

The south is not on wealthy hotspot, it has massively deprived areas and even in the wealthier areas there are people living in absolute poverty.
Basically the government doesn't give a shit about the poor, the untouchables, wherever they reside.

Not one wealthy hotspot

This is about city vs rural or city vs less urban at least.

I can get those things in my southern location because I live in a densely packed city. But I certainly couldn’t get them on a London scale. We have lots of services and restaurants and things because a lot of people live here.

Please do come and tell me how immensely privileged Portsmouth is.

And as to the example of children’s hospitals. That would be at least a two hour trip from here. Way more if you live further South West.