Even the report’s authors say the idea may sound barmy.
But the Policy Exchange, a right-wing thinktank, says it was serious when it called on the government to stop spending money trying to regenerate struggling northern cities and use the cash instead to help their residents relocate to the southeast.
Its report says it is unrealistic to expect cities like Liverpool, Hull and Sunderland to ever regenerate properly.
They are too isolated and the source of their original wealth — ship-building, ports and other heavy industry– have disappeared.
It would be better to help people to move to places like London, Oxford and Cambridge, the report says.
“Places that enjoyed the conditions for creating wealth in the coal-powered 19th-century often do not do so today,” the report says. “There is no realistic prospect that our
regeneration towns and cities can converge with London and the South East.
“There is, however, a very real prospect of encouraging significant numbers of people to move from those towns to London and the South East.”
Critics say the idea makes no economic, political or social sense.
The southeast is full. Its roads, public transport and services are overcrowded. House prices are sky-high and not enough new homes are being built. The area’s infrastructure, including water supplies, couldn’t cope, they say.
And anyway, why should people uproot their families and move to an alien part of the country?
What do you think? Is it time to admit that some northern towns and cities should be left to fall into decline, while the southeast should get more investment?
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44 comments so far
The south east has enough problems with an overcrowded population, I don’t see how an northern invasion of uncouth garb and strange oaths could possibly help this situation. Unless they need higher house prices (last time i checked they didn’t).
If anything the report highlights the fact that the regeneration efforts in some of the places mentioned are substandard, so come on Liverpool, Bradford and sunderland more effort please.
- Posted by Matt 'Northern Monkey' NuttallI think it is a terrible idea…there are not enough jobs and houses in the South for all of Liverpool, Sunderland and Hull…
- Posted by Tammyquick question: why doesn’t this story appear under the ‘Oddly Enough’ channel? Methinks it should…
- Posted by Lauren DoubleuPlease tell the person that wrote this to come to my city Sunderland - I bet he has never been past Watford - if he does not know the way tell him to contact me - Who in the right minds want to leave Sunderland for the South - get a life
- Posted by val jenkinswith less water per capita than Sudan falling in London, constraints on electrical supply because of the london olympics, it would be better for companies to re-locate north, skills base in the north is excellent and the people are more friendly.
ex-southerner now moved North
- Posted by SmiffyOr how about they just move to Manchester? Manchester is a thriving city in the north which still offers great prospects and reasonable living costs, hence why so many people from the south east move there!
This report is obviously a complete and utter waste of time and money as it’s clearly never going to happen for a million and one reasons. New York has it’s ‘Little Italy’, just imagine a corner of Cambridge called ‘Little Liverpool’…. or maybe not!
- Posted by KieranI don’t normally comment on these stories, but as a born and bred scouser, I had to have a say here!!
I been living away from liverpool for some time. When I left, the city was in dire need of regeneration. I went back recently and was absolutely amazed and the transformation, and am now considering moving back up there! These idiotic fools have probably not even looked at the difference this regeneration has made. The Liverpool one area of the town centre alone makes the city look amazing!!!
I say well done to the cities of the north that are trying to succeed! what an absoultely stupid idea to say everyone should move south!!! Id rather live in liverpool than london any day of the week!!!
- Posted by James-LeeWhat a great idea, I would be very happy all if the unemployed chavs move to London.
- Posted by grahamAnd let’s not forget that farming has suffered since we stopped being self sufficient. So to extend the recommendation, let’s abondon all towns and cities outside the South East, and abandon the countryside, because that’s not prosperous either.
By my measure of intelligence, the people who came up with this recommendation are small-minded idiots.
Unfortunately many organisations think there is some kind of positive in having a presence in London - yet if they thought about it, wages in the regions are lower and travel is easier - so companies would do well to move away from South-East-centric operations.
If the doom saying climate change brigade are right, London will be underwater soon anyway. (And no, you southerners can’t come and set up home on the North’s hills and mountains).
- Posted by W SmithNot only is this offensive but extremely narrow minded! Have people forgotten already that Liverpool is the Capital of Culture?!
I can’t speak for anyone else but I know how happy I am to live in the North West and couldn’t think of anything worse than living in an over priced, over crowded city.
I think this is a case of speaking before thinking, as it states above ‘the idea makes no economic, political or social sense’.
As for trying to stop funds from being put into areas in the North West/ North - What a ridiculous thing to do. The money that has gone into Liverpool so far has not only created more homes, accommodation for students and tourist attractions but the construction alone has provided jobs for thousands of people.
The North will not be left to rot while the South get more investment!
- Posted by LauraHow amusing. I come from an area in the South East that I consider to be failing when it comes to regeneration. Sending an exodus of people from the North would just finish it off. Unless of course they are planning to move me even further South. What next? France?
- Posted by G. SmithIf Northern cities are failing it’s partly a result of their dreadful inhabitants - shipping a bunch of layabout Northerners down South will simply dilute the efforts of the hardworking folk who already live there, not to mention bring down house prices and generally lower the tone. Let them stay where they are, or ship them overseas so they can whinge at someone else.
- Posted by Doug BatesThe people who came up with this idea were obviously off their nuts.
What a palpably ludicrous solution!
Of course, like other countries you will ALWAYS get differentials in wealth generation - and areas more prosperous than others.
This is not rocket science - just a plain fact of life.
People will naturally migrate south but there is NO reason on earth to abandon any place.
Manchester is a city with a massive economy larger than the whole of southern Ireland: are we awake?
Some folk need to get real!
- Posted by The Truth Is...They are radical suggestions and may have socially unacceptable consequences but they have been made with considerable clear thinking and merit understanding rather than emotional responses. Change and economic rise and fall are inevitable and we cannot hope to artificially maintain population centres as they were at some arbitrary point in time. Nature will take its course so we must adapt.
- Posted by northernI don’t believe that abandoning the North would be sustainable in any way however I imagine it could be a great opportunity for many people. Travel broadens the mind and those who have lived in the North all thier lives might benefit from living within a more ethnicly diverse community. Whereas any brave and pioneering people who are willing to move up North and make a serious effort towards making a better society should be given the support they need. Maybe its time to try something new with new people.
- Posted by S CarlinAfter all the money that New Labour spirited away from councils in the South to give to the North and there is still no improvement. Some cities have a culture of under acheivement; you only need to look at the optimistic outlook of Manchester compared to the victim mentality of Liverpool. It makes no sense to fuel further migration to the South East, this is the policy of a Notting Hill idiot of the ‘Political Class’, but at the same time money is not the answer; getting off one’s backsides instead of taking New Labour bribes is. Without aspiration the North will go no-where.
- Posted by S DavisAs one who lives and works in Sunderland I see no benefit to me moving to a very expensive small box built on a flood plain with inadequate water supplies when I live in a comfortable and affordable house in a modern City , a growing economy with great connectivity, a Premiership football club and cultural amenities in a region with outstanding countryside which doesn’t have the risk of flooding that the south east has but has Europe’s largest man made reservoir with enough water to mean we will never run dry. If I have a complaint about investment then I would say there hasn’t been enough support from a government we helped put into power. I am seriously starting to think that we should look less towards London and the south-east for our future and more towards Edinburgh and recognise that we are north British.
- Posted by Martin RoutledgeThatcher must be delighted that Tory plans to decimate the wild lands up North haven’t been abandoned. When can we expect Cameron to announce plans to adopt the strategy of diverting funding from Northern cities back to the South?
- Posted by MichaelBreath takingly arrogant this.
I moved to the W Midlands 15 years ago to my employer’s HQ and to expand life away from London. I’ve worked in Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Leeds, Sheffield, Cardiff - all over the UK especially for the government departments based in these places. I am proud to be a Londoner, but also proud of the places mentioned and feel privileged to work with the people of these places.
Liverpool in particular has done a fine job of regeneration and should be proud of itself. If Cameron wants to be elected then this type of stupidity and aloof southern arrogance will certainly leave him in opposition where perhaps he should stay until he has grown up people who work around him.
Idiotic idea all round.
- Posted by Rob DakinI find it odd that the researchers should suggest even more people move to a part of the country - Greater London - which has the highest rate of unemployment of any region in the UK (and has for many years). Perhaps instead unemployed Londoners (unemployment rate 7.6 %) should be encouraged to move to Liverpool (unemployment rate 5.5)% or Sunderland (unemployment rate 3.4%)?
- Posted by Rob LeighI think that’s a great idea!
The north of England is such a lovely place, and so much nicer with less people!
All migrants would be kept in the south west thus alleviating the overcrowding in the North. We could then enjoy all the open spaces of this lovely place. Cumbria, Yorkshire, Northumberland, Cheshire, Derbyshire, on and on - ahhhhhh bliss :o)
- Posted by GogsWell I for one can’t wait to leave my wonderful green fields, fresh air and open spaces and relocate to the smog and traffic of the South! I especially look forward to leaving the very friendly locals here to be with the rude, bigoted and selfish folk like Doug Bates (see comment above). It’s always been my dream to abandon my chocolate-box village in Lincolnshire for the cheek-by-jowl populace of the South and I crave the day when my daughter can go to school in an over-populated and underfunded establishment (yes, that’s right, people from north of the Watford Gap can actually spell “establishment”!). I don’t see what the fuss is about….
- Posted by DeborahWhy don’t we rebrand the North as the “New South” and pretend the problems never existed - surely that’s what Tony would have done…
- Posted by adrianIf this were the case then we may as well give up living in the UK and all move to sunnier climates as it’s not getting better in general, it’s getting a whole lot worse.
- Posted by Philli still think we should build a wall about half way up.keep all them forked tongued people in the south.there must be 3 million forked tongued people up here lets send them to london.
- Posted by mikeCan Yorkshire go into to partnership with Scotland - that’s if they’d have us - because, God knows, we’ve got more in common with them than that miserable lot in the south east. It’s time to cut our ties with that unfriendly bunch of whinging softies.
- Posted by Jimmy Winterswell is today April Fools day or what? I have heard of journalism that likes to provoke but PLEASE!!!! This report must be a joke!!!
I’m from Hartlepool and have lived away for ten years until recently moving back and setting up business in the town. I have done so because I think the warmth and charisma of the people is second to none and also because the regeneration of the area has been a true success and the area is flourishing. The area holds a host of vibrant and passionate groups of people and is leading the way in new business start ups and entrepreneurialism.
There are some very strong points of view coming through on this feed defending the North. I think this shows how many people disagree with this complete rubbish!!!
- Posted by northern lass and proudExcuse me while I pick myself up off the floor from laughing at this utter balderdash to be polite! Is anybody actually taking this seriously, its not April 1st is it?
Yes Im a “Northerner” and would no more want to move south than most of us, but what is worrying me is who commissioned this “Rubbish Tank” to think about it and how much it costed. Its bad enough that they even considered it let alone suggesting it so it doesn’t say much for their tank does it.
Come on… would someone please wake up to the real world. Perhaps if the money spent on such lunacy was directed to those Cities that needed it, it just might be of more use.
There will be a major parliamentary debate about it next let alone all the pheasability studies tax payers will be paying for.
- Posted by Jane TookA massive supercity encompassing London, the shires of Cambridge, Essex, Kent, Surrey and aka Middlesex?
That is what we may end-up with.
The infrastructure required? Probably leviathan and gigantic and perhaps impossible?
The mind boggles! :=)
- Posted by The Truth Is...There are great places to live, work and play all over our country, both North and South. You can’t just suggest that people abandon their homes and move on the back of one report.
Simple minded people from both North and South have written off each other’s parts of the world (see above) with out even living there.
Personally anyone who lives in the UK is mad, the south is expensive and overcrowded, the north has terrible weather and run down cities.
For a good life move to Australia or Canada.
Londoner living in Spain.
- Posted by Alexeveryone will be moving north soon enough, when the effects of global warming flood London and all the low lying areas of the south, fortunately it will also take out Goole, Hull and Withernsea………..every cloud has a silver lining
- Posted by royLike Hitler at the end of WWII, these morons are looking at maps and living in a fantasy world. Any quality of life which Cambridge had 30 years ago has been well and truly lost. A small market town with a university attached, whose street plan was laid out in mediaeval times is already the focal point of millions of tourists, a major science park plus immigration from all over the world. The roads around it are paralysed. Already agreed local building plans will take the infrastructure to the point of collapse. Did I say morons? Make that criminal morons.
- Posted by John LambleRe: Comment from S Carlin.
Northerners would benefit from traveling. You obviously do not know much about the north or this country in general. In the 80’s London was full of people from Liverpool, Manchester, Glasgow and the North East. You will not find many Londoners who have visited the northern cities. As for diverse community……when you next arrive in Leeds just see if the black or asian community speak with a yorkshire accent. They do and this is down to the people interacting far better than what you see in London. You need to get out a bit more like many of us who went out to check the north when we were young (not via university). Far more creative than London and all this multi cultural rubbish, you certainly don’t mix from what I have seen……oh sorry forgot the Brick Lane festival.
- Posted by johnnyYou are right on one thing….it is brave to venture north and the shock of arriving in Leeds or Glasgow to find out that the locals are actually quite smart and doing something different.
This report from the Conservative think tank, truly exposes the dark heart of the Conservatives. No matter how much Mr Cameron wants to act all distant from the elite and friendly to the common person, every so often we are fortunately reminded of the disaster this Country would be in if the Tories get in power again.
- Posted by MACLeaving aside the debate about whether it is “better” to live in the North or in the South, the plain fact is that the government steals money from council tax payers in the South (by progressively reducing the Central Government Grant to their local councils) and uses the money to subsidise the North, plus Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
This simple fact tells us anyone with half a brain that, for whatever reason, these areas are unable to pull their weight in the national economy. If they were able to pull their weight, they would not need the subsidy.
It is a sign of how deeply politicians and economists of all shades are mired in the failed Socialist thinking that cripples the UK that even a supposedly “right-wing” think tank cannot come up with anything more original than to apply the subsidy in a different way.
The correct way to deal with the situation is not to perpetuate dependency by doling out a subsidy paid for by a tax on efficiency elsewhere, but to give the dependent areas the means to pay their own way by re-introducing and expanding the concept of an Enterprise Zone in each major dependent city, free of business taxes and unnecessary government bureaucracy.
Anathema to the control freaks of the Labour Party and the EU (and Tory chancellors) these Zones were proven to revive the areas in which they were established in the 80’s, but for political reasons were replaced by the government-subsidised “assisted areas” of today.
If re-introduced on a much wider and permanent basis, they would revitalise the local economies of the currently dependent areas at no cost to the existing national economy. All that is needed is a government with the imagination and the will to do it.
- Posted by AndyPersonally i love the North and would never move to the south because it is horrible.
There are far too many people and it is more expensive down south. The north if definitely the place for me
- Posted by clareSeems to me that folk in the North spend more of what money they have on the social side of life, not wasting it on properties which is why it looks so run down.
- Posted by William FowlerWhy don’t we just save our hard earned money by not paying so called thinktanks. There must be much better ways to waste public money. Any ideas?
- Posted by DavidBeing a Midlander myself, I feel like I’m sitting on the fence for this argument but thought I’d still add my views, especially as we’re known as northeners by the southeners and southeners by the northeners!
What a complete load of utter nonsense.
Clearly this think-tank is only attended by upper class twits who think that nothing works outside of London.
If they actually ventured out a little and had a look for themselves then they would see that everything works fine up north, in fact, everything works better. I have worked all over the UK and would pick Liverpool, Manchester & Nottingham over London, Oxford and the surrounding areas any day.
I just feel sorry for those fools who think that money can compensate for intelligence and common sense, they give the south a bad name leaving the rest of the southern population embarrassed.
- Posted by Jon SwiftAlso, for the record, if the south east is so much better than the north, what are their excuses for areas such as Croydon and East London where the streets ooze crime & poverty far worse than any northern town I have ever visited.
I was born in the south (Dunstable) and moved up north to Middlesbrough when I was young.
My memories of the south were of a nice town with friendly people. Saying that I went back to Dunstable a few years back to visit family friends and was shocked to see that the town centre was full of charity shops, all the big shops had left and there was a lot of people who I would refer to as ‘Scum’ wandering the streets, which is rich seeing as though I live in Middlesbrough and there’s people here who would easily win Gold at the Scum Olympics.
The north is so much better, much much more friendly, better sense of humour and it’s a lot nicer. Everywhere is getting regeneration work done, I hate Sunderland, but it’s a nice place to go.
This ‘Thinktank’ (using the term ‘Think’ very loosely). Who funds it? I hope it’s not the taxpayer as from what they have said they don’t seem to have the collective brainpower to actually think.
Nothing would make me move down South, especially London (everyone gets stabbed there). I love everything about the North, especially the North East!
- Posted by Dave WinterApart from the fact that the authors of the report have not actually done any analysis on how these cities are now dramatically different from the 80’s, or considered that there are other very strongly commercial and economic centres in the North, exactly how is the infrastructure of the South East supposed to cope with a fresh influx of people?
- Posted by nickThis is a classic example of people reacting to something without even looking at the evidence. I know there are a lot of things a lot nicer about the North than London. But if you want a job you can move to London and get one the next day and the average salary here is about £30k. Personally I’d prefer it if our remaining unemployed lazabouts were sent up North.
- Posted by The LondonaI work for local government and it breaks my heart to see the idiocy and money wasted on a huge number of schemes. It isn’t a question of North or South and ‘where’ is best. The fact is, local government and the people that spearhead new schemes are clueless. I wouldn’t employ any of them. The big pay packets go to those with least common sense, while the minions beneath these top-heavy pyramids of ‘managers’ work their guts off for peanuts. If our money belonged to the bosses and they were running a business, we’d see a big change in our environment….North and South.
- Posted by annetteRejoice!! It’s high time the unwashed yokel of the north is able to enjoy in the boundless delights of education, culture, running water, central heating systems and exotic foods one enjoys in a civilised society, amongst a many other things of course.
Perhaps we can give the north of England to charming Alex Salmond of Scotland?
- Posted by Thornton Reed