Jobs crisis needs regional response

DAVID Cameron does not need reminding about the challenges facing the Yorkshire economy. He has already visited the area twice since becoming Prime Minister two months ago – and he has acknowledged that there will have to be policies to help those areas that have become over-dependent on public sector jobs as the Government accelerates its cuts programme.

The Conservative leader now needs to honour this commitment following the Work Foundation's report which reveals the extent to which five major communities in this region, areas already blighted by above average unemployment and deprivation, are likely to suffer

disproportionately as the spending axe falls on public services.

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It's not as if there is a surfeit of jobs in neighbouring towns – Yorkshire is the region that has seen the steepest rise in joblessness since the UK entered the recession, a statistic compounded by concerns that the education and training system is not equipping people with the skills to take advantage of evolving economies like the low-carbon sector that has limitless potential.

So far, it is politically advantageous for the Government to blame its Labour predecessor for the country's economic mess while taxpayers

still remember Gordon Brown's appalling legacy. Equally, it must be remembered that the past government made unparalleled investment available to the former coalfield communities, for example, that were so neglected by past Tory administrations which presided over the decline of traditional manufacturing industries.

The problem is that these areas were so blighted that it required government intervention, and the creation of public sector jobs, to offer some hope to families. The issue is that this strategy was not complemented by special measures to encourage private investment, such as the enterprise zones that kickstarted so many inner city

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regeneration projects when Michael Heseltine was Environment Secretary 30 years ago.

Of course, the public sector's excesses need to be checked. Staff

levels became unsustainable under Labour. But the Government's cuts will become self-defeating if there are insufficient jobs in private industry for those public servants who face the threat of redundancy. It is why, therefore, that there needs to be regional flexibility in Mr Cameron's response rather than a "one size fits all approach" for the whole country.