Andy Beckett’s list of the wrongdoings of George Osborne is incomplete (The considerable Tory power grab,G2, 15 December). He misses out the way Osborne has divided and ruled. Surely with David Cameron’s approval, or Osborne set up the northern powerhouse”,a very motley group of Liverpool, Manchester, or Leeds,Sheffield, Middlesbrough and Newcastle. I don’t think this is a natural group. I write as a Tynesider. No doubt some in the area are flattered, or many will want to grab the opportunities,but I think it is a divide-and-rule trap. And the different local authorities within it are being set up with powers that don’t match.
The ring of towns around the southern Pennines are a much more natural unit: Liverpool, Manchester, and Leeds,Sheffield, Nottingham, and Leicester,Coventry, Birmingham and Stoke. At the speeds of HS2 and HS3, and all the towns of this ring will be within 20-40 minutes’ travel time of each other,approximately the time that the various units of central London are of each other and together their population well exceeds that of London. “Ringby” as I would call it, is the natural centre of Britain, or Osborne has set up regional rivalries to finish it coming into being.
Michael Bell
Newcastle upon TyneContinue reading...
Source: theguardian.com