Economic Development
The chancellor George Osborne has been peddling the rhetoric of ‘rebalancing the economy’ since the coalition came into power in 2010, yet for the first time in over 40 years there is no national programme of regeneration to address the needs of the most deprived areas. Furthermore, the agencies tasked with tackling regional disparities have been closed and many of their functions centralised.
How do you get investment in infrastructure when the economy’s nosediving? You stop pursuing old avenues and go for something new, says Dan Gregory
This week it emerged that economic output fell by 0.7% between April and June 2012, following a 0.3% fall in the first three months of the year. In a perfect partnership between metaphor and reality, George Osborne has been donning his hardhat and peering into holes in the ground for a number of photo opportunities to highlight the government’s efforts to attract investment into the UK’s infrastructure.
