Nice short piece on the regions & industrial policy

By David Smith in the Sunday Times; I've highlighted key bits:

Andy Haldane, the Bank of England’s chief economist, gave an interesting speech in his capacity as chairman of the government’s industrial strategy council — reminding us that the government still has such a strategy. Speaking at St James’ Park, home of Newcastle United football club, he had some killer facts on regional income disparities.

The gap between the richest region — London and much of the southeast — and the poorest — typically the northeast and Wales — is 150%. Having narrowed between 1900 and 1980 but widened since, it is now back to the levels of the early 20th century. Regional income disparities are twice those in France and three-quarters larger than in Germany.

Haldane, who says he has been engaging in “deep hanging out” across the country in recent years, identified six factors that determine whether a place is “left behind” or not. They are: transport and connectivity; schools and education; housing and shelter; high streets and social spaces; good work and fair pay; and money and finance.

Haldane, who has tested his factors around the country, provides the example of Ashington, the town in Northumberland that was the birthplace of footballing legends Bobby and Jackie Charlton and Jackie Milburn and has its own dialect, Pitmatic.

Ashington, said Haldane, failed on all six factors. It has no train service, thanks to the Beeching cuts of more than half a century ago, and is less well-served for public transport than 70 years ago. The local school now performs well but in the town “too many people are stuck in the educational slow lane”. Its high street, despite a recent makeover, “remains a shrine to bookies, charity shops and high-cost credit providers”.

When it comes to jobs and pay, Ashington has one of the world’s most advanced paint manufacturers, but it employs only 150. Youth unemployment is above the national average and, though unemployment overall is lower than since the last pit closed in 1988, there is income insecurity. Finance is available, but much of it at punishingly high interest rates. Housing availability is an issue, as is housing quality.

What can be done? Industrial strategy is part of it, as you would expect from Haldane, but so are infrastructure and connectivity, education and skills and other factors. There is a lot to be done, and I’m not sure our politicians are capable of it.