A missed chance

BY predominantly using his party conference speech to settle scores, particularly with the banking fraternity, Vince Cable missed an opportunity to outline how he, and the Lib Dems, will provide the growth that is required to kickstart the economy.
By The Newsroom
Published 20th Sep 2011, 10:00 BST

This was regrettable, given the amount of time that continues to be devoted to the banking sector’s shortcomings and the rival agendas of the Business Secretary and the Chancellor.

What the country, outside the conference perimeter, wants to know is how many new jobs will be created – and what can be done to help those areas that were allowed, during the New Labour boom years, to become over-dependent on the public sector.

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This need is made even more urgent by the latest analysis offered by the Centre for Cities think-tank. Echoing the findings that precipitated this newspaper’s “Fair Deal for Yorkshire” campaign, it reveals that Yorkshire is one of the regions suffering a disproportionate number of job losses because the recovery is barely extending beyond the outer perimeter of the M25.

And, rather than skirting around the issue of regional growth in his speech, York-born Mr Cable should have been advocating far greater use of re-training and re-employment initiatives to counter the public sector cuts that are required to help stabilise the economy.

If he had taken this opportunity – the Lib Dems, after all, spend a lot of time highlighting their progressive credentials – then the future may not be such a foreboding one for so many people.

Related topics:Lib DemsYorkshireNew LabourYorkM25