Well North of Fair: The implications of the Spending Review for the North of England

Much immediate analysis of the Spending Review has focused on its impact department by department and sector by sector. There has also been a lively debate about its impact on different sections of society and in particular on those who depend on the welfare state.

This report explores the extent to which the Spending Review will ameliorate or exacerbate the North-South divide. In considering jobs, welfare, capital investment and public services it draws a stark conclusion: things look set to become significantly worse. It argues that the fundamental problem with the Spending Review - and the economic policy of the Coalition government to date - is that it lacks an equally rigorous and challenging strategy for economic growth. In the absence of such a strategy it is argued that the North of England needs to seize the initiative itself and drive forward an economic agenda that liberates regional economic prosperity from the limitations of a Whitehall agenda tied to the demands of agglomeration in the Greater South East.