Tories: UK economy must shift focus away from south-east England

Posted: Wednesday January 7, 2009, 07:58

The Conservatives last night called for a rebalancing of the UK economy, saying for too long it had been over-reliant on financial services and too focused on the south-east of England.

The declaration came as David Cameron and his frontbench team took part in 13 countrywide business forums under the slogan of Get Britain Working - just 24 hours before Gordon Brown sets off today on a three-day tour of England and Wales.

At a forum in Cardiff, George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, said the dominance of the City of London had left Britain "very exposed" and promised that a future Conservative government would offer help to other sectors of the economy.

"We need to do more to rebalance this economy, make other industries more successful, make manufacturing more successful," he said.

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spagan

Does that mean that it is only Gordon Brown and New Labour who think that more money should go to Westminster and Greater London?
The Treasury needs to release funding now to enable Scotland's infrastructure to be improved.
Slainte Mhor

Reply | Posted: 28 days ago

TWC

I'll believe Cameron when he defines how he will Finance Devolved assembllies.
Where the Money is that's where the spend will be.

Reply | Posted: 28 days ago

martin, edinburgh

Look at the emigration targets of choice for UK citizens such as the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. Then look at the emerging powerhouses of the 21st century such as Brazil, China, and India. The one thing they have in common is that their biggest cities, financial centres and administrative capitals are not one and the same. Powers are separated geographically across these countries. Compare these to the monolithic post-empire blocs of the UK, France or Russia where power is concentrated on a single city to the exclusion of all else...

Therefore, a good start would be to move parliament away from London to a new purpose-built city. I suggest Britannia City, built on the english-scottish border, to show the unity of Britain under hopefully a Lib Dem government and to act as an investment magnet for the borders after their centuries of managed stagnation under the english/scottish/british yoke.

Reply | Posted: 28 days ago

indyscot

Pretty much too late fot that type of thinking now. The english governments have been ignoreing other parts of the DISUNITED kingdom for years. Scotland has a REFERENDUM COMING up in 2010 on INDEPENDENCE. Results on that will see SCOTLAND Entering the Olympic Games in her own right, so ALL unionist MPS or MSPS can forget any change of hearts now IT'S ALL TOOOOOOOO LATE!!!!!!!!

Reply | Posted: 28 days ago

Polloftheday

Are you satisfied with the public apologies offered by the former heads of the Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS?

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