NORTH & SOUTH
:
The Implications Of Regional Policy On A North–South
Divide
INTRODUCTION
‘North and South’ has endured as a term that
covers many of the important economic, social, cultural and
political differences within Britain. We have moved away from
the post-war consensus which recognised important regional
differences of prosperity in Britain, many of them following
North-South lines, and which endeavoured to do something about
them. The downgrading of regional policy has been one of the
less visible elements of the Thatcher revolution. Instead
of maintaining an active regional policy, the UK government
approach has been to deny that North-South differences exist,
or to argue that such differences will be ironed out by the
operation of the free market. Regional issue have been pushed
down the political agenda at a time when North-South differences
have, in most respects, become more pronounced.
This has been true of the restructuring of the British economy
during the 1980’s, characterised by old, declining industries
in the North and that of new expanding business in the South.
It has also been showing up in voting behaviour and is evident
in many other respects such as sharp regional disparities
in house prices, making it increasingly difficult for potential
migrants from the North to share Southern prosperity.
Growing congestion in the South provides another reason for
studying the impact of regional policy and the North-South
divide. In the earlier part of the 1980’s, economic
misery was widely spread. It was more prevalent and deeply
felt in the North, but it was certainly present in the South
as well, and it was difficult to argue strongly for a policy
which would have simply distributed high unemployment, for
example, more evenly across the country. The economic recovery
after the 1980’s recession was one which the South was
the main beneficiary, making it inevitable that sooner or
later it would run up against constraints on growth, at a
time when the North was still starved of economic activity.
Furthermore, there are strong reasons for believing that
North-South differences, in both economics and politics, could
widen over the next few years. The further integration of
the economies of the European Community and the opening of
the Channel Tunnel will provide additional advantages for
the South during the late 1990’s. Politically, the concentration
of Conservative support in the more prosperous South, with
Labour’s only remaining strong holds in the old, industrial
areas of Scotland, Wales and the industrial North of England,
may become yet more marked, leaving these areas effectively
disenfranchised. It is, therefore, a reasonable contention
that most North-South differences arise from economic factors.
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